When Bethesda Softworks launched Indiana Jones and the Great Circle for Xbox and PC in late 2024, it surprised both fans of the film franchise and loyal followers of developer MachineGames.

While many expected the licensed entry to be an Indy-themed re-skin of the studio's popular first-person Wolfenstein games, others thought it might be just another familiar Uncharted or Tomb Raider romp…only topped with a fedora.

Of course, those assumptions proved to be about as reliable as a pet monkey when the game ultimately delivered a sprawling, epic adventure that not only captured the spirit of its beloved source material, but rivaled the legendary archaeologist's big screen exploits.

While the Great Circle indeed packed a literal punch in the combat department, and featured its fair share of tombs to raid, its action and puzzles were organically balanced with immersive exploration, rich world-building, nuanced characterizations, and cinematic storytelling.

But it seems crafting a successful, expectation-subverting Indiana Jones was just the beginning, as MachineGames has unearthed another shiny treasure in the form of the Great Circle's Switch 2 release. Much more than a competent port that retains and optimizes the original's (whip) cracking formula, Indy's debut on Nintendo's new system significantly raises the bar for what's possible on the hybrid hardware.

As pretty as the Lost Ark

The first thing that hit me in the Great Circle on Switch 2 wasn't a foe's jaw-shattering punch, but its striking presentation. Having previously reviewed the game on the powerful PlayStation 5 Pro, I was well acquainted with its eye-popping visuals. That said, I wasn't expecting Nintendo's lower-powered console to serve up a comparable graphical feast, especially when I was playing in its resolution-reducing handheld and tabletop modes.

But the incredible level of detail on display impressed at every turn, whether I was ogling blinding sunbeams being filtered through lush foliage or marveling at the realistic shadows my torches cast on crypt walls. Thanks to DLSS upscaling doing some of the heavy lifting, the game looks as sharp as a Cairo swordsman's blade running at 1080p resolution when docked and played on a separate screen.

It was my time punching Nazis and cracking conundrums in handheld mode, however, that continually had me scooping my jaw from the floor. Whether playing the Great Circle in the palm of my hand or propped on my desk or dining room table, it shined like a golden idol on the system's portable display. While the resolution is dropped to 720p in handheld mode, nothing else is sacrificed in terms of tech, from its leveraging of ray-traced global illumination to the strand-based hair that ratchet's the realism of character models.

Coupled with the game's artistic excellence, this means every last detail, particle effect, shadow and lighting trick — from Marshall College's many reflective surfaces to that intimidating cleft in villain Emmerih Voss' chin — makes a confident leap onto the small screen. And while side-by-side comparisons with more powerful hardware — looking at you, PS5 Pro – will reveal subtle shortcomings, such as fuzzier up-close textures — the differences are generally negligible and never break the immersion.

Smooth as a slithering snake

Indy's search for fortune and glory on the Switch 2 is forced to make a bigger sacrifice in the performance department, as the game is locked at 30fps. But while that dip – down from other versions' 60fps – might sound as detrimental as a massive, rolling boulder on your tail, it barely makes a blip.

Without the luxury of being able to offer the "quality" and "performance" modes that've become commonplace with higher-end consoles, MachineGames (which smartly handled the port in-house) decided to prioritize the former for Switch 2. And, as detailed above, that choice has paid off in spades, resulting in one of the most visually impressive experiences to ever grace the system's 7.9-inch LCD screen.

Of course, the presentation-pushing decision wasn't made hastily, as the optimization-obsessed studio seemed to know exactly what it was doing, cutting corners where necessary, but not at the cost of quality. The Great Circle is a rip-roaring Indiana Jones adventure, but it generally favors measured exploration, careful stealth, and thoughtful puzzle-solving over seat-of-the-pants action.

Sure, the fists fly, Indy's whip cracks, and plenty of makeshift melee weapons break over bad guys' skulls; the story also packs its share of thrilling chases, frantic shootouts, and explosive set pieces. But none of this ever becomes so performance-intensive that it slows the game in the same way a massive open-world or cluttered battlefield might. As such, the rock solid 30fps performance rarely presents more than the occasional hiccup — a bit of pop-in here, a cutscene stutter there.

One of the game's most absorbing aspects is its globe-spanning, semi-open areas — from the Vatican and Gizeh to the Himalayas and Shanghai — all ripe for exploration and discovery. These dense, detail-drenched locales are living, breathing hubs and, to maintain the game's visual splendor and peppy performance, the studio has reduced the number of NPCs populating some of these environments. But unless you've played the previous versions — and took a census of their various hub areas — you likely won't notice.

Ninten-difference

The Great Circle made some small concessions to properly run on the Switch 2, but it's also leveraged many of the hardware's unique features, from mouse and gyro controls to HD Rumble (sadly, motion controls have not been implemented for gesture-based whip-wielding.) The mouse-like functionality works as advertised and is fun to fool around with, but it didn't pull me in to the point I'd trade it for traditional mechanics. The gyro motion, however, definitely upped the immersion, especially when carefully exploring environments and closely inspecting items. If I ever wanted to level-up the first-person perspective, I'd use the feature to truly feel like I was under Indy's weathered hat.

The real star though, is the HD Rumble, which surprised me with every new interaction I had. Incredibly layered and nuanced, the feature injected extra realism into even the simplest inputs, like brushing spiders off double-crossing Satipo's back. But while sweeping away the creepy crawlies triggers a satisfying tactile sensation, that's just a taste of what the tech can do.

The slow-building vibration that pulses over your palms when that oversized rock nips at your heels is a fantastic showcase of the feature, and everything — from enemy-ensnaring whip strikes to the gentle placement of puzzle pieces — significantly benefits from the HD Rumble's masterful implementation. Not since using Sony's innovative DualSense controller have I been so taken with a peripheral's ability to bring something fresh to the medium.

A visually stunning, cinema-rivaling adventure that put players in Indy's well-trodden boots like never before, the Great Circle had already cemented itself as a must-play for fans of the series, as well as armchair adventures of all stripes. On top of providing all the whip-cracking, crypt-exploring, mystery-deciphering fun you'd expect from the franchise, it excelled in its world-building, storytelling, and characterizations — including Troy Baker's spot-on performance as the Harrison Ford-originated hero.

Amazingly, all of this has been retained and optimized — with little sacrifice – to be successfully squeezed onto the Switch 2, giving owners of the system not just one of its best games to date, but one that paves a promising path for the future of highly ambitious, AAA titles destined for Nintendo's hybrid hardware.

Should I play Indiana Jones and the Great Circle on Nintendo Switch 2?

Play it if…

Don’t play it if…

Accessibility

As with previous versions the game, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle's Switch 2 release offers a treasure trove of accessibility options. On top of a ton of customizations for subtitles, closed captions, and user interface elements, camera modes — such as screen shake and motion blur — can be toggled.

Color filter modes – protanopia, deuteranopia, and tritanopia – are available for visually-impaired players, while various HUD settings and adjustments allow for further customization.

The game also features separate difficulty options for its action and adventure elements, allowing for specific aspects – like enemy quantity and behavior — to be tweaked for the former, while the latter offers assists for puzzles, navigation, item location, and more.

How I reviewed Indiana Jones and the Great Circle on Nintendo Switch 2

I played Indiana Jones and the Great Circle for 30-plus hours, with the majority of that time spent in the Switch 2's handheld and tabletop modes.

I paid particular attention to its visual quality and performance, especially in comparison to the PS5 Pro version, which I previously reviewed.

I also focused on Switch 2-specific features, like the mouse and gyro controls, as well as the HD Rumble integration.

First reviewed June 2026

Admit it. It’s okay; we’ve all thought about it: upping sticks, going off grid, and living the vanlife. But the wanderlust usually wears off once we start to consider the impracticalities and its unglamorous aspects. Outbound doesn’t share that sour-faced realism, though. Its vision of leaving the rat race and immersing oneself wholly in nature is purely positive.

This is a ‘survival’ game where surviving is no trouble at all; it’s just you and your camper (and potentially a companion or three), cruising the wilderness with nary a care in the world.

I, for one, have been waiting for a game like this, and judging by its art style and mechanics — not to mention the dog — it looked to be exactly what I was looking for. Having now played it, I can confirm that it succeeds in painting an idyllic picture of vanlife — to an extent.

On the road

You begin by choosing your van type and creating your character. Of the former, there are three to choose from, varying in their extension capabilities, carrying weight, and handling. You can also choose any base and accent colors you like.

There are a good number of customization options for your character, with face and hair types. There are also various accessories available, including painted fingernails. Oh, and there are shoes that look exactly like Crocs, which is a win in my book (look, they’re the perfect summer shoe, okay, and I won’t hear otherwise). Clothing options are more limited, though.

Once you’ve made your choices, you’re thrust onto the open road for a short drive before pulling up into a scenic parking lot in the middle of what looks like a North American national park. This lot is the site of the Outbound’s mini tutorial, tasking you with downloading a blueprint for a wrench from a nearby signal tower, crafting it, and using it to open the barrier to the map proper.

There’s no story here. No reason given as to why you’re journeying around in your van, other than a couple of lines of monologue at the start about leaving the city behind. There are various notes strewn about the map written by inhabitants, but these merely serve as gameplay hints rather than expounding some kind of overt narrative.

The whole game is rendered in a cell-shaded style, with a vibrant color palette that complements the tone of the game perfectly. Textures are simple but detailed, just enough to offer some semblance of realism, while landscapes on the horizon adopt a cardboard cutout look. The environment can get surprisingly atmospheric, too, especially as night falls, which really helps to sell the idyll of living deep within nature.

This soft aesthetic extends to the music, which is understated and wholesome, if a little anonymous. It drifts in and out rather than playing constantly, although there are occasions when it cuts off abruptly.

Sound effects are well placed and sufficiently detailed to feel immersive, from the cacophony of birdsong to the crackle of campfires. When rain falls, it sounds great both outside when it hits the ground and inside when it hits the roof of your van. And since your van is electric, all you hear as you drive along is the sound of the tires rustling over rough terrain, which I found oddly relaxing. Occasionally, your character will say something to give hints or after completing an action, but these are a little too generic to inject much personality or color.

The game’s map is large and expansive, mixing dirt roads and open forest with rocky canyons, streams, and waterfalls. There are also various man-made structures, from towers to treehouses, acting as points of progression.

The map screen itself is vibrant and detailed, with a rustic, hand-drawn appearance that’s clear and readable. It also tracks player locations in real time, which, as someone with a shocking sense of direction, I welcome.

Camp n’ craft

Outbound is upfront about its laid-back nature. There are no time constraints; you’re encouraged to play at your own pace and explore as you see fit. I did find the day/night cycle a little too fast, but thankfully, you can adjust this.

Attending to your needs is easy. In fact, you only have one, and that’s to feed yourself. What’s more, food is plentiful. There aren’t any real fail states, either. If your health reaches zero, as a result of fall damage or standing in a campfire for too long, the screen merely fades to black and declares that “you fainted,” before respawning you to the next day, with a quarter of your health replenished.

The typical survival gameplay loop is adhered to. You collect resources for crafting and explore the environment, which in Outbound means finding signal towers for downloading crafting blueprints and investigating landmarks for more rewards.

Managing the inventories of your backpack and van storage is easy, thanks to the clear interface of both. You can easily dump everything you’re carrying in the former into the latter with a single input. And if you want to prevent certain items from transferring, you can lock them to your backpack, which is a welcome convenience.

You can also go around the map lighting campfires, although I failed to see the point of doing so, other than to tick them off your list. They offer no special benefits or features, other than letting you sit down in a chair and gaze into the flames.

Driving is fun and fluid. Your vehicle is easy to control, yet feels weighty enough to feel realistic, and provides a soft challenge to make it feel satisfying. You can also change to a third-person camera angle while driving, which helps when manoeuvring in tight spots.

One annoying aspect of driving, though, is getting in and out. It’s a two-stage process requiring you to first open the door, then sit on the seat. This soon becomes a nuisance as you frequently hop in and out to gather resources on the roadside.

To gather certain resources, you’ll need various tools. Once you’ve acquired their blueprint, you can craft them in your van’s workshop. You’ll have to complete a simple minigame where you click in time with on-screen prompts, but there’s no punishment for getting this wrong. Tools can then be upgraded to tackle different types of rocks, logs, and shrubs.

The hammer tool gives you access to the base building menu. There are a fair number of options here, letting you build cabinets, shelves, and extensions on top of and outside your van. Cosmetically, many of these assets are quite basic, but they have their own simple charm.

You can also build various bits of machinery in your van to craft more materials. You feed them resources, and they work on churning out their outputs in the background, freeing you up to go about other tasks.

Naturally, these machines — along with the drivechain — require your van’s battery to be sufficiently powered. As you expand your van’s capabilities, you’ll require more and more power, and it’s this aspect that you perhaps need to be most mindful of in Outbound, as you can quickly find yourself out of charge.

Thankfully, you can feed your battery wood and fibre, both of which are fairly easy to come by. You can also build solar panels and other power-giving equipment to keep your van topped up.

There are multiple upgrade trees for your van, too. For example, you can increase the power of its motor so you can climb steeper inclines and increase building space.

Riding shotgun

Once you’ve got the gist of its central loop, Outbound doesn’t do much beyond it. There are some more interesting things to be found as you explore further afield, but they offer little in the way of interactivity. For all its splendor, the world is just a bit too empty.

I do like Outbound’s pacing, though. Like any good survival game, it holds back on giving you all the toys, requiring some effort to attain them all, which only makes it more rewarding once you do. It takes a while to get a dog, for instance, which is strange given that one features prominently in the game’s promotional material.

There are a few annoyances that spoil the fun slightly. There can be a lot of backtracking to signal towers as new blueprints appear, and while you can look at your map while driving, you can’t move around it or adjust the zoom. You’ll need to be a passenger or on foot to do those.

I can’t complain about the game’s performance, though. I didn’t encounter any visual bugs or drops in framerate. Online multiplayer was solid, too. Again, there was no lag or other glitches, save for a few instances of misaligned character placements. For example, there were times when I was in the back of the van while my partner drove, but on her screen, I was in the passenger seat.

The bigger issue with multiplayer is the absence of shared saves. This means that if you’re the guest in someone else’s game, you can’t carry on the adventure by yourself.

I’m hoping more content will be added in the future to expand the game’s potential, since there’s a good foundation here for more exploration and van-building opportunities to be added on top. For now, though, Outbound is a fun and good-natured way to while away a few hours, either alone or in good company.

Should you play Outbound?

Play it if…

Don’t play it if…

Accessibility

There aren’t many accessibility features in Outbound, although there are some I haven’t seen before. For instance, you can disable consumption sounds, which I presume is designed to aid people with misophonia.

You can also disable the mini games and disable the flashing effects from storms. The size of the UI is adjustable, too, although the range isn’t particularly wide. Thankfully, the maximum size should prove large enough for most gamers to see clearly.

You can toggle subtitles for the narration of player characters, but unfortunately there's no option for audio descriptions.

How I reviewed Outbound

I played Outbound for several hours, which is enough time to see most of what the game has to offer. There’s already a DLC (downloadable content) pack, entitled School Bus Adventures, but I’ve yet to play this.

Most of that time was spent playing cooperatively with my partner, although I also played it solo. We both played on PC: she used an Acer Nitro 14 gaming laptop, which features a AMD Ryzen 7 CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU, and 16GB of RAM, and I used a desktop with an AMD Ryzen 7, an RTX 5070, and 32GB of RAM. My partner played with the GameSir G7 Pro, which is one of the best PC controllers around, while I used the MSI Versa 300 Wireless 8K gaming mouse and the Corsair Vanguard Air 99 Wireless gaming keyboard.

I’ve been gaming for decades, and I’m a fan of titles with similar mechanics and pacing to Outbound, such as walking sims and adventure games. I’m also experienced in the survival and cozy genres, with Hozy and Subnautica 2 being two of my recent favorites.

First reviewed: May 2026

Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight sees everyone’s favorite morally dubious hero return to the streets of Gotham once more in TT Games’ latest brick-based adventure. It’s a real mish-mash of genres, combining RPG and brawler elements with classic Lego action-adventure platforming fun, but it makes for a charming adventure that Bat-fans are sure to love.

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and if nothing else, it’s something Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight has turned into an art form. Riddled with references, jam-packed with jokes, and quintessential comic book ka-powery, there’s no denying that this is an ode to all things Batman.

But in particular, it’s evident how much the Batman: Arkham series by Rocksteady Studios and WB Games heavily inspired gameplay. If you’re more a fan of Lego than you are Batman, you might have missed the trilogy and its many accolades; released in 2009, 2011, and 2015, the three games in the series were met with abundant praise for their inventive free-flow combat, excellent stealth gameplay, and exploration mechanics.

Of note is that the original Lego Batman trilogy was released almost in parallel (across 2008, 2012, and 2014). While creative and well-received, ultimately, a Lego game is a Lego game; it’s for all ages and somewhat limited by its own bricky source material. Times have changed, and Lego has since gutted its typical game formula enough for Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight to make a pretty big swing at being more Arkham-like, combining the best of these two trilogies and Bat-media beyond. But does it hit or miss?

Put ‘em up…

Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is still a Lego game at heart; its slapstick humor, goofy parodies of iconic scenes, and low-stakes couch co-op fun form the beating heart of its success. Broadly speaking, Legacy of the Dark Knight respects the Lego gameplay loop: fight, smash stuff, build something grossly overequipped to progress through the level, and repeat.

But hold your horses before you decry it as “just another Lego game”; there are some tweaks to the formula here, including some that fans may take issue with. That starts with the slimmer roster of seven playable characters (compared to over 100 in the most recent Lego Batman game), each with unique skills you’ll unlock as the game progresses. Broadly, these are inventive and distinct, though some fare better than others — I’m looking at you, Batgirl.

Newly added to the mix is a more fleshed-out combat system that mimics the Batman: Arkham series’ free-flow combat system. Now, your heroes can build combo stacks as they attack, dodge, counter, and land satisfying environmental takedowns, combining unique skills with melee combat in a super-fun brawl-style showdown, enunciated by the occasional “THAKK!” or “KAPOW!”.

Fights such as these are a dime a dozen in both the overworld and in-level, and while they can be a little repetitive towards the late game, it’s still a marked improvement over older Lego titles. That being said, it feels like a lot was added in half measures to keep things simple; for example, I was a little disappointed by the skill tree for weapons, which offered a rather uninspiring array of movesets and upgrades, especially for the wider Bat-family.

A lot of fights are entirely avoidable if you opt for the stealthier approach; the game is littered with rafters, tunnels, and alcoves you can traverse or use to surprise enemies with a sneak attack. I got a lot of fun out of this, but again, it does make things a little too easy in places, especially when paired with the Detective Mode-like area scan that will help you locate intractable items and enemies.

Thanks to new difficulty settings, you can choose to make these encounters a little more consequential in play; I played mostly in the medium difficulty Caped Crusader mode, which still has infinite health but with more enemies. That’s more so because, for some reason, enemies could see me through walls on a few levels when I’d switched up to the more difficult Dark Knight mode. I’m hoping that’s a bug we’ll see fixed soon, because I enjoyed the higher stakes of having a finite number of lives… even if it was still pretty easy.

A feast for Bat-fans

So, how does Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight distinguish itself from Arkham and the original Lego trilogy? Well, the game is packed to the brim with trivia, old and new, parodying everything from more obscure comic book references like Bat-Mite right through to The Batman (2022), laced with ample pop culture references to tie in the humor of Will Arnett’s portrayal in The Lego Batman Movie. As a lifelong fan of Batman, it’s a real joy, and the hits just keep coming.

This mashup of references could well have led to frequent tonal whiplash between bleaker Gotham skies and campier retellings of the Caped Crusader’s escapades, but TT Games has sewn together these disparate storylines wonderfully through the power of parody. Still, over the course of its six chapters, the story does, in places, lose its way, but I was too enamoured by the imaginative level design, slapstick humor, and endless reel of references to really care about whether or not a game built around kids' toys is delivering a powerful narrative experience.

For me, Lego games have always scratched my collectathon itch, and this new Batman adventure is no different; you’ll collect everything from driveable vehicles, wearable costumes, and props inspired by the franchise, which you can proudly display in your customizable Batcave between bouts of pummeling through mindless hordes of henchmen.

Exploring Gotham City is also great fun as you zip and glide between the looming skyscrapers, scoring Wayne Tech and hidden loot from the rooftops and alleyways. It’s teeming with life and, despite the gloomy backdrop, there’s a real vibrancy to the game — not to mention the somewhat excessive levels of detail. You can literally see the texture of the Lego character paint as though they were real toys, and I’m not sure I even liked it as much as I was impressed with it.

On that note, I had never imagined — or hoped — a Lego game could be one of the more demanding games in my library, and had to drop a fair few settings to eke out the best performance from the game, especially when playing on my Steam Deck. Plus, I’m slightly disappointed to see that the same wall glitches I found in my demo playthrough are still there in the pre-launch software I’ve been reviewing, and I also found a fair few more bugs in the overworld. I was rewarded for completing encounters without ever going near them, the Sub-Wayne entry points frequently reset mid-solution, henchmen didn’t always spawn, and when they did, as aforementioned, they were sometimes X-Ray visioned.

All that being said, it’s undoubtedly up there with my favorite Lego games, and the magic is in how much love and appreciation the developers clearly have for both Lego and Batman. I doubt the new additions to Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight spell too much about the future of Lego games overall; in fact, it tells me that TT Games might just be itching to do more new and exciting things with each franchise, and that’s never a bad thing. There’s still plenty of fun to be had with the Lego formula, though, and Legacy of the Dark Knight stands as a fantastic example.

Should you play Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight?

Play it if...

Don't play it if...

Accessibility features

There’s great attention to accessibility options within Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight; on first launch, players can select from Vision, Hearing, Motor, and Motion Sickness accessibility presets, as well as between the three difficulty levels, two of which have no fail state (Classic and Caped Crusader).

If these presets aren’t quite right, there’s a litany of settings to customize; for visual needs, you can toggle audio description, high contrast mode, color blindness, full screen effects, text size, HUD visibility, marker display, camera shake, persistent center dot, and third-person camera reset, set up customizable subtitles, and choose between adjustable and dynamic field of view. For auditory accessibility, there are volume controls, closed captions, voiceover icons, night mode and audio output settings, and for any motor needs you can remap controls including sticks, invert the camera and tweak sensitivity, adjust controller deadzone and held or repeated button inputs, toggle aim snap and lock-on assist, adjust the game speed, aiming mode, gadget rapid fire, and skip quick time events or simplify them.

You can also toggle stud loss so the game is less punishing, it auto-saves for ease, and you can review text logs and tutorials at any time from the pause menu. Certain events are skippable via the pause menu (indicated on the HUD), and you can pause any time, even during cinematics.

How I reviewed Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight

I spent over 20 hours in Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, playing on my custom-built gaming PC with a Dell S3225QS monitor, 8BitDo Ultimate controller, and Razer Kraken Kitty headset, but also on my Steam Deck.

I covered a majority of the main storyline, explored Gotham to complete side quests and unlockable content, and played in all three difficulties to assess their impact on play. I compared my experience to other recent Lego games like the Skywalker Saga as well as my fond memories of playing the original Lego Batman trilogy.

First reviewed Mat 2026.

This past week or so, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about Saros. Housemarque’s intense roguelite third-person shooter is a tremendous refinement of its previous work, Returnal (a game I feel is one of this console generation’s best). Yet its harrowing, cosmic horror-influenced narrative elevates it to something especially memorable.

If you’re familiar with Returnal, it probably doesn’t come as a surprise that Housemarque has once again deployed the Torment Nexus for Saros’s doomed spacefarers, and the concept of its protagonist being forced into a seemingly eternal cyclical hell is very much present here. That said, Saros is decidedly more manageable than its predecessor, featuring gameplay and progression systems that allow for a more forgiving experience overall.

Don’t get me wrong, though; Saros is still a tough PS5 game. Strip away all its new systems, and I’d say it’s about on par with Returnal in terms of difficulty. Enemies hit hard, and bosses demand keen focus when it comes to learning and dodging their bullet patterns. You’re going to die a lot in Saros, but given I reached the true ending in a tidy 20 hours, it’s a good bit friendlier to the average player.

A skill tree packed with permanent upgrades — alongside a very clever modifier system unlocked early on — ensures that protagonist Arjun grows steelier with each run. Furthermore, checkpoints placed at the start of each biome mean that, unlike Returnal, you don’t have to play through the whole thing in one flawless run. That alone condenses runs from Returnal’s 2-3 hours to a far more manageable 30 or so minutes, depending on what you’re looking to achieve on each run.

And like its predecessor, Saros is polished to a mirror sheen. Arjun’s movements are fast and snappily responsive. Color-coded bullet patterns instantly communicate the approach you need for each enemy. Weapons are varied and often creative in design and their sub-weapon functionality. And those haptics and adaptive triggers? Simply the best I’ve ever experienced and reminded me that, for all its faults, the DualSense is still capable of wowing me after all these years.

All in all, Saros is very much another slam dunk from a studio that has mastered the art of blending arcade-like trappings with AAA production values. It’s not quite perfect; I wish there were more post-game activities (and no daily challenge system yet, a la Returnal), and there are very (and I do mean very) occasional performance dips on base PS5 hardware. But there’s nothing that puts a serious dent in what I’m sure will be a game of the year frontrunner for many who seek Saros’s yellow shores.

Hail to the King

Saros puts you in the role of Arjun Devraj, portrayed by actor Rahul Kohli. Arjun is a member of Echelon IV, a team sent by megacorporation Soltari to the planet Carcosa. Their purpose is twofold: to continue the extraction of a valuable resource called Lucenite, as well as to uncover what happened to the previous three Echelon teams that have made no contact with Soltari since planetfall months ago.

It’s not long before the truths of Carcosa are laid bare. In a phenomenon unique to the planet, it undergoes regular eclipse phases that rapidly advance time. Oh, and people who look directly at the eclipse are driven mad. This is all spelled out pretty early on through collectable audio and text logs left behind by prior Echelon expedition teams. From there, the madness only increases at a rate of knots.

If you’re familiar with Returnal, then you’ll know that there was more to its protagonist, Selene, than met the eye. It’s a similar case with Arjun in Saros. I won’t spoil the finer details here, but there’s still an element of his trauma seemingly manifesting itself in the form of Carcosa’s horrors.

That said, I find Carcosa to be a tremendously compelling setting. Housemarque certainly isn’t shy about its horror inspirations here. Namely, the stunning H.R. Giger-esque architecture left behind by the planet’s former inhabitants, and The King in Yellow, a collection of short stories that revolve around a stage play of the same name, which causes all of its readers to go inexplicably mad. It’s rather on the nose with the latter, actually, but it all serves to create an aggressive brand of horror here that pairs beautifully with Saros’s fast-paced third-person shooting.

I'm Blue

Saros, at its heart, is a third-person shooter with roguelite elements. There’s no trudging movement speed or ducking behind cover here, though. Arjun’s default run speed would be enough to set off a highway speed camera, and he can dodge, jump, and air dash on a dime to quickly reposition or blink through incoming projectiles.

It’s a game with myriad arcade sensibilities. Enemies’ primary method of attack is intricate bullet patterns reminiscent of danmaku shoot-em-ups like DoDonpachi Resurrection or Ikaruga. Okay, Saros never gets as intimidatingly screen-filling as that, but I think it does take some inspiration, especially from that latter title.

A new addition to Saros is Arjun’s Soltari Shield. Bound to R1 by default, holding the button down produces a protective globe around Arjun that absorbs projectiles, converting them into ammunition for his currently equipped power weapon. As a result, Saros directly encourages you to get stuck into the line of fire. You’ll need to watch out here, though; only blue projectiles can be absorbed without penalty. You can absorb yellow projectiles, but they’ll cause corruption, eating into your maximum health until cleansed with power weapon usage. Red projectiles, meanwhile, cannot be absorbed or even dodged through.

There’s plenty of weapon variety in Saros. From powerful revolvers and close-range shotguns to energy crossbows and auto-targeting smart rifles. You’ll need to use power weapons in tandem with these to deal devastating damage and effectively turn dire situations in your favor. Some are great for immediate single-target damage, while others excel at crowd control, spreading damage-over-time projectiles around the room.

One thing I adore about Saros’s weapons is that they all come fitted with an alternate fire module. By holding down L2 about halfway, your weapon’s behaviour changes. These typically consume more energy, but can do things like turn your shotgun into a grenade launcher, or your energy crossbow beams into a single concentrated blast. My favorite weapon comes a bit later in the game, though; a chakram launcher that embeds blades into enemies, spinning inside them to deal damage when you activate its alt fire. It’s so awesome.

Helping hands

As I said at the top, Saros has a similar difficulty curve to Returnal, but it’s much less mean. Early on, you’ll unlock the ‘Armor Matrix’, a massive skill tree that improves stats and offers various perks (such as a ‘second chance’, allowing you to get back up once when you die) when you pump collectible Lucenite currency into it. A secondary resource, Halcyon, can also be gathered to unlock particularly potent enhancements.

You’ll typically be faced with a boss at the end of a biome. Levels can take around 20-30 minutes per run, depending on how much optional exploration you undertake, and beating a boss will unlock a checkpoint for you to return to upon death. These checkpoints can be teleported to from your home base of the Passage, letting you begin a run from your most recent one, or for returning to older areas for side collectibles like audio logs and Halcyon.

This is probably the main thing that makes Saros a much more manageable beast compared to its predecessor. Returnal (outside of its split halfway through the game) demanded a full run every time. Dying to a late-game boss there often meant 2-3 hours of lost progress. Saros is far more forgiving in this regard, making it a far more accessible game for those who were put off by Returnal’s difficulty and the time investment it demanded.

Fear not if you’re after a meatier challenge in Saros, though. After a few early biomes, you’ll unlock Carcosan Modifiers at your base. This system presents you with a range of modifiers to make your life on Carcosa both easier and more difficult. You can give yourself stronger firepower and better defenses, but you’ll have to balance that out with detrimental modifiers, like the loss of your second chance or more aggressive enemies.

Easy modifiers decrease the number on the scale, while hard ones increase it. There is no upper limit to this, either; you’re free to pack on as many modifiers as you choose, so long as the scale doesn’t dip too far in the easier direction. In short, if you want to bring all the modifiers that make your life easier, you are required to pile up the ones that increase the game’s challenge. It’s a really smart way of increasing difficulty and adds tons of flavor to runs once you have a good grasp on the game.

Bathed in yellow

I found Saros to be a deeply enjoyable game, then, and I didn’t find its additional safeguards and progression systems made it any less when compared to Returnal. But one area where I think Saros surpasses its prequel is in presentation.

It’s one of the most visually stunning games put out by a PlayStation Studios team to date. Biomes are vast and varied, ranging from chalk-like canyons and underground mines to dilapidated docks and swampy marshlands. Draw distance is also remarkable, and you can often see entire levels span out when you look out over a vista. You can even spot landmarks from areas further in the game off in the distance. It’s awe-inspiring stuff.

I would also strongly, strongly recommend bolstering your experience with a pair of headphones. Sound design in Saros feels tailor-made for the PS5’s Tempest 3D audio. Roaring winds and distant alien screams fill the soundstage, while gunshots and explosions all sound satisfyingly chunky. The soundtrack is also a massive highlight for me, blending chaotic synths with wailing electric guitars.

Once again, Housemarque has really put the DualSense Wireless Controller through its paces. The novelty of its haptic feedback and adaptive triggers has long worn off for me, but Saros really surprised me with its usage of these. Things like the pattering of rain and feedback from power weapons echo through the controller’s vibrations accurately and immersively. And the usage of those adaptive triggers to open up secondary fire options is a brilliant touch, as it was in Returnal, too.

To close out, I really have very few complaints from my time with Saros. The game largely holds an impressive 60fps (frames per second) on base PS5, but there was the very occasional slight chug in busier, enemy-filled rooms. It’s never anything game-breaking, though.

Beyond that, I’d really like to see more postgame activities come to Saros. Returning to older areas for collectibles is fun, but it’s currently lacking anything like leaderboards or Returnal’s daily challenge runs. That game did eventually receive a chunky free expansion with new story elements, so I’d love to see the same thing happen again in Saros. Right now, I’ve just been left wanting more, which is hardly a bad thing.

Should you play Saros?

Play it if...

Don't play it if...

Accessibility features

Like most contemporary PlayStation Studios titles, Saros has plenty of accommodating options for gamers of all stripes. Up front, you can disable the Carcosan Modifier limiter if you desire an easier experience, and there’s no penalty or trophy-gating for doing so. Full button remapping is also supported.

There are plenty of colorblind options, too, to the point where you can even change the default color of different projectile types. Meanwhile, subtitle options are robust. You can change their size, color, and background opacity.

Audio options are especially broad. A dialogue priority slider ensures spoken lines aren’t drowned out by other audio sources, and you can fine-tune bass, treble, and the lower and higher ends of dynamic range. There’s even an average loudness setting if you’re hard of hearing or don’t have access to speakers or a surround sound system.

How I reviewed Saros

I reached Saros’s true ending in 20 hours of play. In addition to the main campaign, I spent plenty of time gathering optional collectibles and collecting currencies to build up the Armor Matrix skill tree.

I played with a DualSense Wireless Controller on a base PS5, often pairing my play time with the RIG R5 Spear Pro HS gaming headset for more immersive audio. My display of choice is the LG CX OLED TV.

I went into this review with extensive playtime in Housemarque’s previous games, most notably Returnal. It was one of my favorite games in the year it came out, so I was excited and plenty prepared to take on the horrors of Saros using Returnal as one of my frames of reference.

First reviewed April-May 2026

Supermassive Games' The Dark Pictures Anthology poses the question: how would you actually fare in a horror movie? And the studio's latest horror game, Directive 8020, is no different.

The interactive survival horror series as a whole has seen us unearthing the secrets of a ghost ship, navigating the fog of an eerie New England town, descending into the depths of a Sumerian temple, and even investigating a replica of H.H. Holmes’ notorious Murder Castle.

Meanwhile, the studio’s standalone titles, The Quarry and Until Dawn, have placed us in the bloodied sneakers of oblivious teens trapped in scenarios ripped straight from the slasher playbook. While the cast, locations, and twists have changed, the goal has ultimately remained the same: try to keep everyone alive. Well, if that’s what you want to do – who am I to judge if you take pleasure in the demise of a mouthy jock?

This core element remains unchanged in The Dark Pictures Anthology's latest entry, Directive 8020. Once again, you act as the puppet master of fate for a cast of diverse personalities, trapped in a nightmare situation that is up to you (and maybe some friends) to navigate them through. This time, the unfortunate bunch is the crew of the Cassiopea, a colony spaceship travelling to the planet Tau Ceti f in hopes that it can be terraformed into a livable planet, offering humanity salvation as Earth withers and dies.

Yes, a bit like Interstellar. But, as you may expect, the mission isn’t quite as straightforward as it seems. 12 light-years from home, having just awoken from a four-year cryogenic nap, the crew finds that they’re far from alone, as a shape-shifting extraterrestrial (much like The Thing) being has infiltrated the ship and is impersonating them, making it hard to know who to trust.

Directive 8020’s story plays out across eight episodes, each roughly an hour long, meaning you can feasibly play through them all in a day if you’re so inclined. It’s a bit of a slow-burn, almost too slow at times, but the many twists and turns (that I won’t spoil here), combined with the constant sense of uneasiness about who you can trust, keep the story gripping. As with previous games in the series, picking up the breadcrumbs of clues scattered through the eight episodes is pivotal in helping you make critical decisions down the line that could lead to the death of a character.

Collectibles, including documents, video logs, and personal belongings, are worth seeking out as they delve deeper into the crew, their mission, and hint at what exactly is tormenting them. Unlike in previous entries, there are no premonitions here to steer you; some detective work is required to connect the dots and make the “right” choices.

On rare occasions, these collectibles require you to solve a puzzle to access them, but these feel superficial for the most part: the ease of their solutions makes them feel like an unnecessary obstacle. Some require you to find and move a power cell or reroute power to unlock a door, while some require you to solve a rudimentary lock-picking puzzle that simply tasks you to select segments of a circle to complete it (or select an orange segment that immediately unlocks it). While finding another piece of the story puzzle feels rewarding, I wish there were more to find, with more challenging ways to access them, or more environmental clues.

While Directive 8020 looks great – especially its cutscenes – the ship itself feels a bit bare at times. Sure, practicality is the aim of the game in space, but a few more personal touches and varied environments – as we’ve seen in previous Dark Pictures games – could have helped immerse us in Supermassive’s sci-fi world, especially given the detail of its characters.

There are five playable members of the Cassiopea for the majority of the game, but seven in total if you include those in the first episode. Each looks incredibly detailed, with pilot Briana Young instantly recognizable as No Time To Die’s Lashana Lynch. However, as we’ve seen with some Dark Pictures characters before (most notably, personally, Ashley Tisdale in House of Ashes), there is, at times, a hint of them looking dead behind the eyes. However, the acting and voice performances are excellent, with Kathryn Wilder and Danny Sapani in particular knocking it out of the park as Anders and Commander Stafford, respectively.

Supermassive has worked to flesh these characters out through dialogue, collectibles, and backstories, but some are definitely more interesting than others. The friendship between ballsy medical specialist Cooper and plucky science officer Anders never failed to make me smile, while technical engineer Cernan’s philosophical takes on life and death struck a chord. However, it was much more difficult to connect to Young, Eiselle, and Stafford, with each falling a bit flat.

Playing in Solo Story Mode enables you to take control of all crew members, while the return of Movie Night Mode offers you the ability to play couch co-op with up to five players, with each player able to control a member of the crew. While online multiplayer isn’t available at launch, Supermassive Games has confirmed this mode will be released in a free update after launch.

Second chances

While the core of Directive 8020 stays true to what we’ve come to expect from The Dark Pictures Anthology, there are a few new additions that may split series fans. The first is the new Turning Points feature, which allows you to rewind a scenario at any time. For example, if you are in a chase and you miss a quick-time event (QTE) resulting in a character’s death or make the “wrong” decision in a conversation, which results in an unwanted outcome, you can immediately replay the scene and do it differently. All your decisions and the overall story path are tracked in the Turning Points tree, allowing you to replay scenes whenever you wish.

I had mixed feelings about this at first, as a large part of what makes Dark Pictures games unique and tense is the weight (and irrelevance) of your actions. If you screw up, you have to live with the consequences. However, this can be frustrating for many players – especially if someone dies early and you want a no-death run. The good news is you don’t have to use the feature.

Directive 8020 offers two Playstyles: Explorer and Survivor. Explorer gives you access to Turning Points, while Survivor offers the classic experience, where there are no second chances. You can switch between playstyles during the game, too, so if you think you don’t need a safety net, there’s always the option to implement it later.

But Turning Points isn’t perfect. While it makes it easier to see the game’s various endings and outcomes, and to pick up missed collectibles, navigating the paths can be a pain. My first piece of advice is to first play through Explorer without using this replay feature as much as possible, using it only to rectify major mistakes or deaths. Initially, I jumped back and forth in episode one to see different outcomes, and it seriously impacted the flow and impact of the story. Once I used it sparingly, I enjoyed the game much more.

However, upon completing the game, I thought the feature would make it pretty easy to explore different paths and endings quickly, as I could jump back in time like Dr. Strange, change a choice, then jump forward to a different outcome. That’s not the case. While it is easier to explore the full game than in previous Dark Pictures titles, this can become monotonous as you rewatch the same cutscenes repeatedly without the option to skip.

What’s more, to alter certain outcomes, and therefore unlock new ones, you must replay an entire path again from one pivotal choice, or make several smaller choices. This may be lazy from my side, but for a feature meant to encourage exploring the story’s various facets, it can make it a serious slog, and I can’t help but think it would be more beneficial to players if you could replay a pivotal decision and then jump forward to just before when that decision takes effect (so long as you’ve already reached that point before).

Silent as the grave

To date, the action elements in Supermassive’s interactive survival horror games have boiled down to running for your life or smashing a QTE. While this survival horror certainly sees you legging it from the shape-shifting beasties, there are (thankfully) fewer QTEs than we’ve seen before. Instead, there are stealth sequences that see you sneaking around the lifeform, hiding behind crates, walls, and seating, to get to your destination, using a scanner to keep track of the enemy.

While these stealth elements do add to the tension, they’re pretty mundane. You see your destination, keep track of the creature’s predictable patrol sequence, and sneak over there – occasionally triggering a distraction to help or maneuvering around noisy glass. If they catch you, you will either be smooshed or, more than likely, given a QTE chance to stun them and run to the end point. Supermassive almost plays it too safe with this new feature.

These slower sequences have the potential to instill an Alien Isolation-esque terror in you. Supermassive could have included unpredictable enemy movements or alternative escape route options to up the ante and make you feel like you’re one misstep from being torn open like a bag of crisps. I understand, the studio likely doesn’t want to alienate its fanbase, but it's hard not to make comparisons to sci-fi horrors like SOMA and Alien Isolation, which simply implemented this better.

Similarly, there are a few first-person elements included, too, that don’t feel fully utilized. When you crawl into a vent, the camera view shifts from third-person to first-person, reflecting the uneasy, claustrophobic feel of these tight spaces. The shape-shifting creature can’t get you in the vents; you simply use them to bypass obstacles and occasionally the enemy, which seems like a wasted opportunity. Pairing more hair-raising stealth moments with those oppressive spaces feels like a match made in heaven (or more likely hell), and yet Supermassive appears to simply dip its toe in the water.

Overall, Directive 8020 evolves The Dark Pictures Anthology series by offering improved graphics, more forgiving gameplay, and introducing new gameplay elements, but it doesn’t quite push the boundaries enough and lacks the bite of other sci-fi survival horrors – and prior titles in the series. If you’re a Dark Pictures fan, it’s well worth checking out, but I can’t help but wonder if it will mark a welcome turning point for the series as a whole.

Should you play Directive 8020?

Play it if...

Don't play it if...

Accessibility features

Directive 8020 offers a handful of accessibility features, primarily focused on UI, QTEs, and subtitles. QTEs can be adjusted so that players can hold a button instead of bashing it, so the button you use on your controller for QTEs remains the same, and to disable the QTE timer. In addition, accessibility options offer the ability to enable a simplified UI font, to set puzzles to be completed with one input, remap controls, and to change the background opacity, size, colour, and more of subtitles and in-game text.

Directive 8020 also offers three preset difficulty options – Forgiving, Challenging, and Lethal – alongside a custom difficulty option that allows you to change QTE difficulty, enable or disable QTE warnings and threat indicators (and their colour), and adjust parry recharge time. However, we’d have loved to see the inclusion of a few more accessibility options, such as a dedicated colorblind mode.

How I reviewed Directive 8020

I reviewed Directive 8020 on PS5 on a Samsung Q80T QLED TV, using a DualSense Wireless Controller. I spent over 10 hours playing Directive 8020 in Solo Story mode, on Challenge difficulty, primarily using the Explorer playstyle. During this time, I completed all eight of the game's episodes (each of which takes around one hour to complete), explored various story paths and outcomes via the Turning Points feature, and aimed to collect as many collectibles as possible.

Having played every entry in the Supermassive Games' The Dark Pictures Anthology, as well as standalone titles The Quarry and Until Dawn – and being a keen survival horror fan – I was able to compare Directive 8020 to the studio's previous offerings and therefore offer insight into the key similarities and differences between their latest choice-based survival horror adventure and previous games.

First reviewed May 2026.

Now that two of us from the TechRadar Gaming team have spent hours in free-to-play third-person action looter-shooter Tom Clancy's The Division: Resurgence - and I, as the big Division fan, am still committing hours to it - we are happy to report that it's a terrific mobile game and proof that big AAA series from console and PC can successfully make the jump over to the small screen to produce something excellent.

Every element of the core Division experience is here. The systems work and are easily navigable on a different scale, the combat is still fun and engaging, and the loot-and-improve loop is just as moreish.

Combine that with a story that’s relatively plain but one that perfectly complements the events of the first game and will be best enjoyed by existing fans, and a well-realized version of that post-apocalyptic New York City setting (complete with weather effects and a robust standard of graphical quality) as well as an intuitive and excellent control scheme on mobile, and the experience is complete.

It’s winter in NYC again

As an agent of the Strategic Homeland Division (SHD) activated after the deadly Green Poison rips through the populace after spreading on money during Black Friday, your job is to save what’s left of the civilized world, help out its inhabitants, defeat factions looking to take control, and build up the SHD’s presence.

You might not have a military background, but you do have access to weapons, gear, and specialist skills and abilities. You’ll choose the latter by picking a specialization based on some pretty typical video game archetypes: there’s a tanky one, a healer, an assault expert, and an engineer type. Familiar skills such as the shield and gun combo, turrets and drones, and an excellent pulse ability work beautifully once again as you tear up Resurgence’s streets.

It’s worth noting that the protagonist actually offers something more than those found in the main games, too: they’re fully voiced and, as such, feel like more of a character. It’s a welcome move as spending hundreds of hours in the likes of The Division 2 and its many expansions, and even the Ghost Recon games, without saying a single word felt odd. Still, it is a shame that there aren’t more character customization options for the lead in Resurgence, which may irk some used to more expansion character creation systems.

Your chatty agent can combine your preferred specialization with a host of different weapons, which provide a huge range of ways to play. From assault rifles to sub-machine guns and high-powered shotguns to marksman rifles, there are loads of combos to try out, and you’ll also have lots of opportunity to level up and improve gear, and make it your own with a variety of attachments.

Most of your time will be spent in the expansive PvE part of the New York map, which features a host of recognizable foes for returning players. There’s the Rikers and fire-crazy Cleaners, as well as a newer faction in the form of the Freemen.

As you cross the map, unlocking safe houses and new areas, you’ll carry out a lot of story missions and side missions that take place up and down the streets. Th overall story are nothing to really write home about, but one specific gripe I do have is that at multiple points in the main story (and thus overall progress) are level gated, requiring you to grind.

At least the selection of enemy nests, alcoves, and urban squares all make for fun and action-packed arenas. The world is very nicely executed on the whole, and does a great job of nailing the aesthetic and vibes of the original game.

Encounters can feel straightforward in design, but still manage to be suitably high-octane and high-tension. It’s a great mix to have, as you can settle into the rhythm of looting, but still have to sometimes get creative and tactical to get yourself out of sticky situations.

For committed looter shooter players, the extraction shooter style Dark Zone is back to provide a sterner PvPvE test, while Conflict offers a dedicated PvP mode for those who fancy testing their skills against other players directly. As someone who prefers cooperation over competition, I’ve really enjoyed the fact that the open world is shared with other players, and there are ample informal opportunities to help others or be helped by them with no matchmaking necessary.

While pouring time into the game to level up my character, I soon found that Resurgence really scratched that looter-shooter itch of needing to find more gear to improve, take down enemies more efficiently, and get even more gear in the process. The steady stream of upgrades keeps pulling you along, as does the desire for the XP gained from main and side missions.

The handful of ongoing elements in the game, such as weekly and daily tasks and plenty of fresh bounties, should also be enough to keep fans engaged over the long term, too. Adjacent to this, the series' monetization and microtransactions are, naturally, present too, and while they can largely be ignored and not engaged with, it is a looming factor.

Running the streets

While the game successfully translates the core experience established in The Division series, it’s another thing to have it perform on smaller, less powerful hardware.

With the visual settings cranked up to max, environments in Resurgence certainly look the part. It feels very faithful to the original 2016 game, thanks to its highly atmospheric snowy New York streets and a great level of environmental detail. It can achieve a mostly solid 30fps on a beefy Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3-powered gaming tablet, though cracks do start to show if you want to hit a higher framerate.

Dash mostly plays on the medium pre-set in order to reach a smooth 45 fps, and the difference in quality is stark. The models of prominent objects, like abandoned cars, look slightly lower fidelity, and the textures become quite muddy. Render distance takes a bit of a hit, too, resulting in quite obvious pop-in on the horizon as you explore. The game is still perfectly playable and holds up decently well on a smaller phone screen, but it’s not as good-looking as similar AAA mobile releases like Delta Force and Once Human.

Even when it looks a bit grim, the game still feels fantastic to play as touch controls are brilliantly implemented. The layout (which includes a wealth of movement options like vaulting, diving, and jumping into cover in addition to your standard virtual thumbstick and aiming stroke firing buttons) does a commendable job of translating a The Division 2-like control scheme to a touch screen format.

Although it's no trouble for experienced touch control players, there are still loads of options to simplify the controls if you’re finding it a little too much. This includes the ability to automate entering cover, aiming down sights, climbing, or vaulting. You even have the option to aim weapons from a first-person perspective, something found in the recent Ghost Recon games but a new and welcome addition for The Division.

Mobile controller support is top-notch, too, as we tested multiple mobile pads from the likes of GameSir, Nacon, SteelSeries, and 8BitDo that all enabled the game to be played exactly like one can play The Division 2 on console.

The control scheme will be instantly familiar to existing fans and intuitive to those new to the franchise, but we think it really excels when played with a controller.

Should I play Tom Clancy's: The Division Resurgence?

Play it if...

Don't play it if...

Accessibility features

Tested as it was initially released as a mobile game, The Division Resurgence sadly doesn’t have a huge number of accessibility features. While there are a host of settings around controls that allow you to change sensitivity across touch, controller, or even mouse and keyboard inputs and gyro sensitivity, there is no way to change subtitle size or color (though you can change languages), no colorblind modes, or extra audio settings.

There are also some assists you can alter with to find the right balance of play, such as aim assists, aiming down sights settings, and things like vaulting and climbing can be toggled to become automatic.

How we reviewed The Division Resurgence

We tested The Division Resurgence in both single-player and multiplayer modes for many hours. Dash tested the game on an Honor Magic 8 Pro, while Rob used a Samsung S20 Ultra (which was only capable of running it on the lowest settings), and then an Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro combined with a Nacon MGX-Pro mobile gaming controller.

Rob also tested the game using other mobile controllers such as the 8BitDo Ultimate Bluetooth Controller, the GameSir G8+ Bluetooth controller, and a Stratus+ from SteelSeries. Often using the ROG Phone 8 Pro's own speakers for audio, he also tried the game through the new SteelSeries Arcits Nova Pro Omni headset.

While Dash is TechRadar Gaming’s mobile gaming expert, Rob is a longtime fan of the Division series, having committed hundreds and hundreds of hours to both main games on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 since 2018. He still plays The Division 2 regularly with friends, and is perfectly placed to know what works and what doesn’t in this mobile version.

First reviewed March-May 2026.

Bethesda Game Studios' Starfield is the latest previous Xbox-exclusive generating buzz with a PlayStation 5 release. But while the sci-fi role-playing game is certainly worthy of the spotlight, its release has stolen some thunder from another recent Xbox-to-PS5 port – South of Midnight – equally deserving of your attention.

Compulsion Games' single-player, story-driven third-person action-adventure scored the 2025 BAFTA for "New Intellectual Property," and after replaying it on the PlayStation 5 Pro, it's easy to see why. Set in the American Deep South, the game spins a folklore-fueled tale filled with magic, monsters, and a stylized presentation that's unquestionably dark and macabre, yet still surprisingly vibrant and uplifting.

Its excellent story, visuals, and sound work are nicely complemented by a fun gameplay mix of combat, platforming, and puzzle-solving, resulting in a compelling package that previously impressed us upon its release last year. But like Avowed, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and other games launched exclusively on Sony's rival platform, South of Midnight is just as good, if not a bit better, on PS5.

A fantastic folklore story

Several hours into the Southern Gothic third-person action-adventure, I find myself fighting Two-Toed Tom, an angry alligator that's literally as big as an island. As Hazel – the teen protagonist desperately searching for her mom following a hurricane that washed their home away – I'm repeatedly attacked by the beast's massive tail and maw full of choppers.

But despite this terrifying foe attempting to floss its teeth with my spine, I'm able to feel some sympathy for it. While I won't spoil the specifics, suffice it to say the game's stellar, emotional storytelling and moving use of original music deserves most of the credit. Like many of the game's characters, Two-Toed Tom is afforded the sort of fleshed-out backstory typically reserved for a game's hero.

As a "Weaver," Hazel can access the animal's complex, tragic past, therefore allowing her – and the player – to empathize with it even as she faces it in a fight to the death. But the Godzilla-sized gator is just one example, as Hazel encounters a variety of colorful characters – of the good and evil varieties – from the past and present, who all have engaging stories to tell.

Hazel has the power to see and affect the world's "Grand Tapestry," a sort of invisible fabric that connects all life. Her power allows her to tap into this ethereal quilt's threads to help restless souls, restore balance, and heal traumas. But beyond that premise – which injects a welcome dose of positivity into a genre frequently more focused on stacking corpses – the story serves as a thoughtful coming-of-age tale that sees Hazel discovering her unique place in the world right alongside the player.

Rather than relying on text-heavy lore drops and tedious, exposition-heavy dialog exchanges, however, the game utilizes a number of clever devices to spin an authentic tale rooted in real folklore from the region. While it does include some of those familiar lore collectibles and character conversations, it really shines in its use of visions Hazel sees – from ghosts appearing right before her eyes to mystical realms offering an emotional peek into her missing mother's complex life.

South of Midnight's also packed with polished cutscenes and cinematics, the highlight of which are hand-drawn, storybook-inspired segments that introduce each of its chapters. And to further stress the game's dedication to imaginative, personality-packed storytelling, these scenes are narrated by a giant catfish with a charming Cajun accent.

Of course, the game's excellent score and music also do their part to ensure the narrative and presentation shine as brightly as the gameplay. A Deep South-inspired mix of subgenres and instruments perfectly blends to deliver an ear-pleasing soundscape that never feels like simple background accompaniment, but rather rich, emotionally-charged music organically woven through the story.

This is especially true during some of the boss encounters, which are complemented by lyrical-heavy songs that seem to dynamically react to the on-screen action while telling the antagonist's story.

Familiar, yet satisfying gameplay

While South of Midnight deserves extra credit for giving its big bads their own theme songs, its creative means of unraveling its Southern Gothic yarn is also supported by solid gameplay. Its blend of combat and platforming will feel familiar to anyone who's played a third-person action-adventure in the last decade, but the tried-and-true mechanics still manage to impress thanks to some smart design choices.

For starters, Hazel packs a fun arsenal of magical powers introduced at a rewarding pace. This results in a nice sense of progression that regularly sees you building on previous abilities with brand new tricks. By the time you're at the game's midpoint, you'll be unleashing a satisfying combat cocktail of light and heavy attacks, Force-like spells, special skills learned along Hazel's skill tree, and a useful power that turns foes against each other – performed by an adorable, voodoo-inspired ragdoll named Crouton, obviously.

Enemies aren't especially varied, and most encounters play out pretty similarly, but it's still a ton of fun fluidly combining Hazel's growing arsenal of Weaver magic to take down the game's nightmarish creatures. There's also a bit of risk-reward strategy layered in by way of the magic spells' cool-down meters, as well as some limited health resources you need to properly manage.

It doesn't hurt that Hazel's acrobatic skills evolve almost as often as her more aggressive moves. Double-jumps, wall-runs, glides, and a grapple hook-like ability can be seamlessly swapped on-the-fly. Her impressive move set is often leveraged in combat – bringing even more strategic options to the battlefield – but it really shines in dedicated platforming sections.

Being able to string her selection of agile abilities together for exploration, puzzle-solving, and even simple navigation quickly becomes one of the game's obvious strengths. This is especially apparent when attempting to survive one of the game's tension-ratcheting chase sequences.

The PlayStation 5 (in)difference

South of Midnight's visual presentation is gorgeous, imaginative, and clearly driven by passion. Its unique artistic style, which borrows inspiration from stop-motion animation, is especially easy on the eyes on PlayStation platforms. Enhanced for the PS5 Pro, the game packs stunning 4K visuals and maintains a peppy 60 frames-per-second.

That said, the game was no slouch on its launch console, the Xbox Series X. While side-by-side comparisons might reveal minor improvements in graphics and performance on the Sony consoles, the differences aren't dramatic enough to recommend the PS5 versions solely on those merits.

Xbox titles ported to PlayStation platforms often earn my recommendation almost entirely on their ability to significantly crank the immersion through smart, thoughtful DualSense Wireless Controller integration. Sadly, South of Midnight misses an opportunity here, ignoring the full potential of the controller's adaptive triggers and haptic feedback features. It doesn't skimp on rumble and vibration effects, but does lack the layers and nuance present in other ports. The game's awesome opening hurricane scene, for example, could benefit greatly from a deeper use of the tech.

South of Midnight's arrival on Sony platforms probably won't pull you in for its visual and performance bumps alone. That said, its improvements, while not game-changers, do make an already fantastic experience slightly better.

More than that, though, the game's worth a look if you missed it the first time around – especially if you're craving an incredibly unique, artistically absorbing action-adventure that prioritizes narrative as much as gameplay.

Should you play South of Midnight on PS5?

Play it if...

Don't play it if...

Accessibility features

South of Midnight returns with the same impressively robust suite of accessibility features it was recognized for its first time around. A number of options for those with audio and visual impairments offer a deeply customizable experience, while the game's abundance of difficulty settings goes far beyond the usual selection of modes, allowing players of all skill levels to tweak and tailor the experience to their specific needs.

How I reviewed South of Midnight on PS5

I weaved Hazel's magic for about a dozen hours on my PlayStation 5 Pro, paying particular attention to graphics and performance, comparing them to the Xbox Series X version I'd previously played.

Additionally, I focused on the game's leveraging of the DualSense's haptic feedback and adaptive trigger features. I played on both my TCL 4K display, with HDR enabled, as well as remotely with my PlayStation Portal. For audio, I tested with my PlayStation Pulse Elite headset, PlayStation Pulse Explore earbuds, and my television's onboard stereo speakers.

First reviewed March-April 2026

Samsung Galaxy A57 two-minute review

According to sales figures, Samsung's budget-friendly A-series phones generally sell better than their pricier S-series siblings (aka the best Samsung phones). So, while the Galaxy S26 Ultra is the brand's newest flashy flagship, a good deal more buyers are probably considering the Samsung Galaxy A57 instead.

For those not versed in the Samsung taxonomy, here's a quick recap: 'A' = cheap, '5' denotes the place in the lineup (it goes 0-5), and '7' is the generation (this is the 2026 model). That's all to say that the Galaxy A57 is the brand's most advanced mid-ranger of 2026, succeeding the Galaxy A56.

Like the S26 family, this is an iterative upgrade, bringing spec tweaks and a new (but familiar) roster of colors, rather than any truly significant changes. Mind you, a price hike makes those same specs look a little bit less appealing this year, given that you're paying extra for them.

The largely unchanged specs list means you're getting similar highs and lows to last year's model. The A57's display is one standout feature, with the bright, bold screen a blessing for your Prime Video binge or commute-based gaming sessions.

Samsung's software is another treat; One UI largely avoids the problems that befall OS packages on many other mid-range phones, and there's much less feature-bloat here than you'll find on the Galaxy S-series phones.

The perks return, but so do the pitfalls. The A57's Exynos processor is simply no good for gaming, and I'd recommend doing your photo editing on a computer, too. For that matter, pictures taken on the A57 aren't up to snuff, which is a surprise given Samsung's usual pedigree in the field.

If you want a phone that just works, without drowning you in AI or automation features, you'll like the Galaxy A57. It won't suit avid photographers, gamers, or people who want a bit more out of their mobile, but it's a reliable workhorse for the average buyer. Its battery life is also solid, and the slightly shrunk frame will fit in your hands a little better than most large-screen phones.

Galaxy A-series phones are understandably popular, but with the price hike, this latest model is a tad harder to recommend than normal. It's definitely worth picking up if you find a solid discount, but with competitors from Nothing, Google, and various Chinese brands offering more for less right now, Samsung's top-end mid-range phone feels a little less valuable than it should.

Samsung Galaxy A57 review: price and availability

• Released on April 10, 2026
• Starts at $549 / £529 / AU$749, but for different variants
• Price hike over Galaxy A56

The Samsung Galaxy A57 was announced on March 25, 2026, alongside the more affordable A37. It went on sale several weeks later, on April 10.

There are three variants of the phone, with availability changing by region. The only model everyone gets costs $609 / £529 / AU$849, and that’s for 8GB RAM and 256GB storage. A cheaper model with only 128GB storage is available in the US and Australia, for $549 / AU$749, while Brits get a super-charged 12GB RAM and 512GB storage model for £699. I tested the 8GB / 256GB model for this review.

For ease of viewing, here are those prices in table form:

No matter where you live, one thing’s for certain: the A57 has seen a significant price hike versus the Galaxy A56. That model started at $499 / £499 / AU$699 — again for different variants, which the table below details — meaning buyers of the new phone will have to shell out much more than they would have for last year’s model.

Given that the A56 wasn't particularly competitive in terms of price, either, an even higher price tag for the A57 will understandably give buyers pause.

Samsung Galaxy A57 review: specs

Samsung Galaxy A57 review: design

• Thin and light phone
• Some neat design touches that improve comfort
• Four color options, all sadly lifeless

To some degree, the Samsung Galaxy A57 has inherited a trait from the ill-fated Galaxy S25 Edge: thinness. The phone’s training regimen has seen it shrink to 6.9mm thick, which is thinner than anything else in Samsung’s roster beyond the Edge.

This doesn’t result in a massive overhaul of the Galaxy A’s hand-feel, not with the height and width still stretching the hand, but it’s a nice touch that makes the device look a little more svelte.

There’s clearly also been some weight loss, with the Galaxy A57 tipping the scales to 179g; again, this is a spec beaten only by Samsung’s year-old lean machine.

Samsung has toned down the fun of its A-series color options over the past few years, and it’s no different this time around. I tested the ‘Awesome’ Icyblue (scare quotes my own), and there’s also Awesome Navy, Awesome Lilac, and Awesome Gray (now that’s what I call an oxymoron). So that’s blue, blue, nearly-blue, and gray.

On the right edge of the A57, the power button is within easy thumb reach, and the volume rocker is only a small stretch higher. I appreciated that the phone’s edge slowly curves up just ahead of the power button, which meant it was simple to naturally find the button with my thumb without needing to look.

The A57 has a triple-camera rear module on the back, which looks identical to those of the last few A-series generations, and it doesn’t stick out too far, so the phone didn’t wobble much when I put it flat on a table.

The Galaxy A57 also has an IP68 certification, which means it’s safe against ingress from small particles, and can survive submersion in water of up to 1.5m for up to 30 minutes (that may sound specific, but it’s what the ‘8’ stands for). When a phone has IP68, you can rest assured that it’s safe for all everyday functions.

• Design score: 4 / 5

Samsung Galaxy A57 review: display

• 6.7 inches, 1080 x 2340 resolution
• 120Hz refresh rate, 1,900 nits max brightness
• Super AMOLED Plus gives display punch

The Samsung Galaxy A57 gets a 6.7-inch display, with a thin bezel that's broken up only by a small punch-hole for the front-facing camera.

Like the A56’s panel, it has a 1080 x 2340 resolution and hits a 120Hz refresh rate, so it’ll handle anything Netflix or your chosen mobile game can throw at it.

Colors are bright and vibrant, thanks in part to two upgrades over the previous model: a higher max brightness (1,900 nits) and the use of a Super AMOLED Plus panel, which offers a wider color gamut. It’s been said before, and it’s truer than ever now: it’s hard to find a better screen on a mid-range phone than on a Galaxy A-series device.

The A57 also has what Samsung calls Vision Booster, a feature that turns brightness and vibrancy up to 11 when the device recognizes that you’re watching content outdoors (as in, grappling with the shiny, reflective sunlight on the display). I didn’t have an A56 to test it against, and it’s not a feature that you can manually toggle, but I never had a problem using the A57 while outdoors.

A fingerprint sensor embedded under the phone's display worked well in my experience, never failing to recognize my thumb.

• Display score: 4.5 / 5

Samsung Galaxy A57 review: software

• Android 16 with One UI 8.5
• Six years of OS updates
• Software is cleaner and simpler than rivals'

Out of the box, the Galaxy A57 runs Android 16, the latest version of Android at the time of its release, with Samsung pledging six major Android updates to the phone.

This isn’t stock Android but One UI 8.5, which the Samsung Galaxy S26 also runs on, except here you get a tuned-down version of that same software.

Some may miss the flagship phone’s various premium features (you don't get generative AI tools like Drawing Assist, for instance), but I actually preferred the Galaxy A57's interface: you don't get inundated with AI features, random reminders, and gimmicky tools that do little.

One feature you do get is an upgraded version of Circle to Search. If you press and hold the home button, you can circle anything on screen and Google search it. The selling point of this feature is that it gives you the ability to find the outfits of people you see online — a pretty niche use case, it must be said — but I found Circle to Search pretty useful for searching for actors I recognized, settings in videos that I wanted to locate, and sports teams that I didn't recognize by their uniforms.

A common feature of mid-range smartphones is bloatware, but the Galaxy A57 is pristine and clean out of the box. You get barely any unwanted pre-installed apps (I can overlook Netflix and Spotify, given how ubiquitous they are), and there are barely any Samsung apps pre-installed either.

I’m a fan of the look of One UI, and it offers loads of customization options. You can bend the wallpaper, color palette, and icons to your will, and add Samsung-made widgets and tools that change how you use the phone.

I like to set up Modes on Galaxy phones, which let me quickly change various settings at the tap of a button. For example, I can design a Game mode, which mutes notifications and boosts screen and performance power, or set up a Sleep mode, which automatically turns on my alarm and switches the display to an eye-friendly grayscale. To easily switch these Modes on and off, I can plonk a carousel on my home page. It's pretty impressive stuff.

• Software score: 4 / 5

Samsung Galaxy A57 review: cameras

• 50MP main, 12MP ultra-wide, and 5MP macro cameras
• Cameras lack some vibrancy and optimization
• A range of useful camera features

Samsung has been using the same camera setup on its A50-series for years now (the A53 was the last model with a different main sensor), and in 2026, it's starting to show show its age. It’s simply not competitive compared to other similar-priced phones.

The main camera is a 50MP f/1.8 unit, which is joined by a 12MP f/2.2 ultra-wide lens and a 5MP f/2.4 macro lens. Around the front, there's a 12MP f/2.2 selfie snapper.

In anything shy of blinding sunshine or studio lighting, the Galaxy A57 struggled to capture an adequate level of vibrancy or color detail — for instance, in the camera samples below, you’ll see foliage that looks desaturated and lacks dynamic range. An upgraded ISP (Image Signal Processing) chip was cited as an upgrade with this phone, but it's not made a significant improvement.

Get some strong sunlight, and some colors do seep through, but you can’t control how sunny it is outside, and besides, sunshine didn't always fix the problem. Other phones do well to edit photos to pull out the contrast and boost the saturation if needs be, and I was surprised by how light-touch (read: ineffectual) the Galaxy A57 could be.

For some praise, I'll point to the auxiliary lenses. I was impressed by how consistent the color was between lenses — I often find ultra-wides lack the color of their main siblings — and the lack of distortion on the wide lens. The macro was a little finicky at finding focus on close subjects, but it's definitely more useful than many others I've tested (though it doesn't come close to making up for the lack of a dedicated zoom camera).

Selfies on the Galaxy A57 were a little better, offering some contrast that will make social media pictures look postable, though, as you can see in the pictures below, Portrait mode struggled with fluffy strands of hair.

The A57 offers you a reasonable range of expected camera modes, including Night and Samsung's stalwart Food, and there's also the A-series-exclusive Fun mode, which basically offers you Snapchat filters on your camera app. Single Take isn't available by default, but you can enable it via the Camera Assistant app in the Samsung Store.

Video recording hits 60fps at 1080p or 30fps at 4K, with a slow-mo app that doesn't reveal its framerate.

Once you've taken a photo, you can use a few tools to brush it up in the Gallery app. There's no built-in chatbot to AI slopify your pictures like in the S26 series, and instead, you get Object Eraser and a remaster tool, which auto-applies edits. The latter's actually pretty good, and I found it reliable for adding some zest to the default pictures that otherwise lacked it.

• Camera score: 3.5 / 5

Samsung Galaxy A57 camera samples

Samsung Galaxy A57 review: performance and audio

• Samsung's Exynos 1680 chip + 8GB RAM (for most)
• Fine for everyday use, not for gaming
• Bluetooth 6.0 for audio

Samsung’s Galaxy A-series phones have never won awards for their blazing-fast performance — plenty of Chinese mobiles at this price point can run rings around them — and the Galaxy A57 is no different.

The phone has an Exynos 1680 chipset, made by Samsung itself, paired with 8GB RAM in most versions.

Geekbench 6 multi-core benchmark tests returned scores in the 4,400s. That’s a step above the 3,900s we saw in the A56, but less than half of what the S26 Ultra returned, and a big step below similar-priced alternatives I’ve tested recently, like the 8,600-scoring Poco X8 Pro Max. Unfortunately, every 3DMark test I ran crashed, which wasn't necessarily the fault of the phone (sometimes, new devices just don’t like benchmarking software), but it did mean I wasn’t able to dig much further into the A57's numbered performance…

… until I started actually playing games.

The A57 could handle well-optimized games like Call of Duty: Mobile, but only on lower graphics settings. Try to match the display quality with some resolution or graphics effects, and the handset would suffer. It would also heat up a little during longer gaming sessions, which is not something you'll encounter with most Snapdragon-powered phones, for instance.

So, the Galaxy A57 is no performance wunderkind, even if you can play certain titles with compromises. But if you're not a gamer, you can ignore all that, as the phone has all the performance credentials necessary for non-intensive everyday tasks like scrolling and streaming. If I weren't an avid gamer, I'd probably deem the Galaxy A57 powerful enough for me.

Audio-wise, you’re looking at support for Bluetooth 6.0, with the built-in stereo speakers about as passable as on any other phone at this price point. And no, there’s no 3.5mm jack, so you’ll have to use the USB-C port for wired audio.

• Performance score: 3.5 / 5

Samsung Galaxy A57 review: battery life

• Average-sized 5,000mAh battery
• Single day of use per charge
• 45W charging powers the phone in roughly 90 mins

The Samsung Galaxy A57 has a 5,000mAh battery, which is the same size battery as you'll find in the A56, as well as the flagship Galaxy S26 Ultra.

A capacity like this is, in most phones, shorthand for ‘all-day battery life’. That’s no different with the Galaxy A57 — I could use the device as much as I wanted, without worrying that it’d run out of juice.

You won’t get two days of battery life, though — not unless you don’t use your phone very much. For average use, you’ll get about a day and a half all in.

The A57 powers at 45W, so it’s not particularly fast, and with a compatible charger, you’ll get from empty to full in about an hour and a half. When the handset’s plugged in, it’ll tell you how long it’ll take to power up at its current speed, which is a really useful quality of life feature that I appreciated.

• Battery score: 3.5 / 5

Samsung Galaxy A57 review: value

Samsung's Galaxy A-series phones are reliable and have some great traits, but they don't offer as impressive value for money as their competitors. Bear in mind that A57 isn't cheap; at its price, it's firmly in the 'mid-range' category.

Many rivals at a similar price point will offer you one or two incredible specs along with a few average ones, like a huge battery, incredibly fast charging, a top-end processor, or a telephoto zoom camera. If you wanted the A57's specs from another brand, you'd probably find them for much less money.

Samsung does nothing to sweeten the deal, and so it's hard to argue that the A57 offers particularly exciting value for money. But as reliability and longevity go, there aren't many 'safer' all-round options than this one.

• Value score: 3.5 / 5

Should you buy the Samsung Galaxy A57?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Samsung Galaxy A57 review: Also consider

Interested in the Samsung Galaxy A57 but want to know what else is out there? Here are some other mid-range gems you may want to consider.

How I tested the Samsung Galaxy A57

• Review test period = 2 weeks
• Testing included = Everyday usage, including web browsing, social media, photography, video calling, gaming, streaming video, music playback
• Tools used = Geekbench 6, 3D Mark, native Android stats

I tested the Samsung Galaxy A57 for just over two weeks before writing this review, after receiving a test sample from Samsung.

In part, testing was done experientially: I used it as I would any other smartphone, which included taking it on holiday to take pictures, conducting video calls, and streaming music and movies. I also put it through a barrage of 'lab-style' tests like benchmarks on Geekbench and 3D Mark, as well as through battery tests.

I've been reviewing smartphones for TechRadar since early 2019, and in that time have tested all manner of mobiles, including past Samsung Galaxy devices and plenty of other mid-range and affordable Androids.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed April 2026

Oppo Find X9 Ultra: Two-minute review

The Oppo Find X8 Ultra was one of the best camera phones to launch in 2025, but there was one big problem: you could only officially get it in China. Now, its successor has landed, and thankfully, this one's launching globally.

To make matters even better, the Find X9 Ultra has been upgraded in just about every conceivable way. It features the latest Snapdragon SoC, a bigger battery, a fresh Hasselblad-inspired design, and a faster screen with a new shape.

Really, though, it's the cameras that are the main attraction, and this is no small upgrade. The phone's main camera has been bumped up to 200MP, as has the 3x periscope telephoto lens. Meanwhile, the ultra-wide gets a significantly larger sensor, and the 6x telephoto has been replaced with a 10x unit.

The Find X8 Ultra was already amazing, but the X9 Ultra takes smartphone imaging to new heights. It has the best zoom of any phone I've tested, and captures stunning shots in all lighting conditions.

Plus, it benefits from Hasselblad-approved film simulations and stunning portrait mode effects. And that's before we get into its video chops, where the Oppo Find X9 Ultra boasts up to 4K 120fps recording with Log and Dolby Vision, with the ability to bake in LUTs.

If you want to take your video and photography capabilities even further, there's an amazing photography kit and teleconverter lens available for the Find X9 Ultra — but it doesn't come cheap. At the time of writing, I haven't put this kit through its paces, but the 300mm-equivalent teleconverter looks to be one of the most impressive offerings so far.

The Oppo Find X9 Ultra has been an absolute delight to live with, and I find myself with almost zero complaints. The software is brilliant, the battery life is solid, the performance is top-notch, and the cameras may be the best of any phone yet.

The only things that might deter some people are the physical size and weight of this phone, as well as its price. But if you want the best camera phone on the market, those are the sacrifices you have to make. In my eyes, the Find X9 Ultra is absolutely worth it.

Oppo Find X9 Ultra review: Price and availability

• 12GB + 512GB for £1,449
• Launched 'globally' for the first time
• Not available in the US

The Oppo Find X9 Ultra is available to pre-order now in both the UK and Europe, along with most other regions globally — excluding the United States. The phone will be available at retail starting May 8, 2026, and it comes in two colours, either Tundra Umber (vegan leather) or Canyon Orange.

In the UK, the Oppo Find X9 Ultra is only available with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, but select markets will also be able to purchase a 16GB+1TB variety. The 12GB+512GB model will cost you £1,449, which is exactly the same price as the 512GB Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra.

It's a pricey phone, but with a stacked spec sheet and the most advanced camera hardware on the market, that was to be expected. You couldn't call it a bargain, but if you're a photography and video enthusiast, I think the cost of entry is well justified.

• Value score: 4 / 5

Oppo Find X9 Ultra review: Specs

Here’s a look at the Oppo Find X9 Ultra’s key specs:

Oppo Find X9 Ultra review: Design

• Hasselblad X2D-inspired design
• Tundra Umber and Canyon Orange options
• IP68 + IP69 dust and water-resistant

The Oppo Find X9 Ultra is available in two distinct and bold color options for the global market. I opted for the Tundra Umber version, which takes design cues from Hasselblad's X2D medium format camera.

It has a brownish finish with a metallic sheen, covered by two panels of black vegan leather that mimic the look of a camera grip. The camera control button (or Quick Key) has Hasselblad's signature orange finish, and there's a subtle orange ring around the camera island, too.

The Canyon Orange version makes even more of a statement. It foregoes the vegan leather panelling in favor of a smooth glass back with a subtle swirling pattern. They both look stunning, but if you're a camera nerd, Tundra Umber is the obvious choice.

The X9 Ultra has a large circular camera module, just like its predecessor, but this one looks a little different. While the base platform is a circle, the glass lens covering is now a curved hexagonal shape. It's a somewhat unusual decision that I'm not entirely sold on.

I'm not sure of the exact reasoning behind it, but if I had to guess, I think Oppo is attempting to mimic the shape of the aperture opening on a high-end lens.

Taking clear inspiration from Apple's latest iPhones, and following in the footsteps of the X9 Pro, the X9 Ultra has its version of both an Action Button and Camera Control button. Of course, you get the usual volume rocker and lock button, as well.

I’m a big fan of these buttons on the iPhone, so I’m happy to see them here, too. Oppo could have done something a little more original, but there's no arguing with the utility.

The Action Button (or Snap Key, as Oppo calls it) has all the same functionality as Apple’s equivalent, but Oppo’s version of the Camera Control (Quick Button) is more limited.

You can still use it to open the camera app with a double tap, swiping it zooms in and out, and pressing it takes a photo. However, it's not customizable like Apple’s version. You can't use it to adjust your EV compensation, switch filters, or half-press it to focus. These features seem like they'd be easy enough to implement, but for some reason, Oppo hasn't done so.

The Oppo Find X9 Ultra has both IP68 and IP69 certifications. This means it’s effectively dust and waterproof, and it’ll even survive blasts from jets of hot water. Handy, if you ever accidentally run it through the dishwasher.

• Design score: 4 / 5

Oppo Find X9 Ultra review: Display

• 6.82-inch 144Hz OLED display
• Similar shape to the S25 Ultra
• 3,600 nits peak brightness

The first thing that struck me about the X9 Ultra’s display is that the corners have a much sharper radius than other phones in the Find X9 family.

It reminds me of the screen on the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. It occupies a middle ground between sharp 90-degree corners and a softer, more iPhone-like curve.

The result is a display that feels noticeably larger than that of the Find X9 Pro, without actually taking up much more pocket space.

The downside is that it doesn't benefit from the same razor-thin bezels as the Pro model. They're still slim, but they're nowhere near as impressive.

Another standout is the fact that this phone has a 144Hz adaptive refresh rate, rather than 120Hz. I’d be lying if I said I could tell the difference, but if you're in the upper echelons of competitive gaming, you might appreciate it more.

Otherwise, the screen on the Find X9 Ultra gives you exactly what you'd expect from a top-tier flagship phone.

The colors are vibrant and accurate, the contrast levels are impeccable, and it gets more than bright enough to compete with strong sunshine.

If you're sensitive to flicker, you'll be pleased to learn that the Find X9 Ultra has a speedy 2160Hz PWM dimming frequency, too.

• Display score: 5 / 5

Oppo Find X9 Ultra review: Cameras

• 200MP main (f/1.5)
• 50MP ultra-wide (f/2)
• 200MP 3x telephoto (f/2.2)
• 50MP 10x telephoto (f/3.5)

The Oppo Find X9 Ultra is almost more camera than phone, and with such significant hardware changes, there's a very good chance that this will be the most advanced camera phone of 2026. Every single camera has been upgraded over the Find X8 Ultra, which was already one of the best camera phones we'd ever tested.

On the rear, there are four cameras. The main camera has a 1/1.2-inch 200MP sensor with an f/1.5 aperture, the ultra-wide is 50MP f/2.0 with a larger 1/1.95-inch sensor, and the first telephoto is a 200MP 3x periscope f/2.2 with a massive 1/1.28inch sensor.

Arguably, it's the second telephoto that's the most exciting of the bunch. It's a 10x lens, the first we've seen on a flagship since Samsung ditched its own 10x lens on the Galaxy S24 Ultra. Don't make the mistake of thinking this is an equivalent lens, though. Oppo says the Find X9 Ultra's second telephoto lens has 306% better light-gathering capabilities than that of the Galaxy S23 Ultra.

It's a 50MP unit with a 1/2.75-inch sensor and an f/3.5 aperture. Oppo is so confident about the performance of this new lens that it says it's like having the external teleconverter for the X9 Pro built in.

Of course, we can't forget about the selfie camera. This camera has also been upgraded, although the changes aren't quite so drastic. It's now 50MP, up from 32MP, and Oppo says the autofocus has been optimized, as has the image processing.

I won't beat around the bush; this is likely the best smartphone camera system I have ever used. The Vivo X300 Ultra provides some stiff competition, but without a dedicated 10x lens, it's easy to argue that the Find X9 Ultra is more versatile.

Regardless of which lens you use, and in all lighting conditions, you can expect exceptional detail and clarity. The combination of high-resolution sensors and optical reach means that this phone outclasses just about everything with its digital zoom — and if you want to go even further, you can add the external teleconverter lens.

The phone's default image processing gives you vibrant, sharp, and contrasty images, but if you want photos that look more like they were shot with a DSLR, you can switch to the Hasselblad Master mode.

Master Mode removes the HDR effect, has less digital sharpening, and uses zero generative AI in its processing. For this model, Oppo has added nine new film simulations that work in this mode, and each can be customized to your preference. I found that a lot of the film sims leaned too heavily on the cooler tones for my liking, but that's no issue, as I can just increase the color temperature myself.

There's also a new addition called Soft Light, which essentially mimics the effect of a Pro Mist filter. There are two strengths available, and both add some bloom to the highlights. It makes photos look like film stills, or like they came from a vintage camera, and I immediately fell in love with the effect.

The Oppo Find X9 Ultra is just as ambitious when it comes to professional video features. Every lens can shoot at up to 4K 60fps in either Dolby Vision or Log, while the main and 3x telephoto can do so at 4K 120fps. You can preview your video with real-time LUTs or burn them into the final recording. There are three stylised LUTs as standard, but you can also import your own.

• Cameras score: 5 / 5

Oppo Find X9 Ultra review: Camera samples

Oppo Find X9 Ultra review: Performance

• Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset
• 12GB RAM
• 512GB storage

The Oppo X9 Ultra is powered by one of the fastest processors money can buy: the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. The global version only comes in one variety, with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage as standard.

Oddly, the Ultra model has less RAM than the X9 Pro, which has 16GB. Oppo hasn't mentioned the reason, but I think it's safe to assume that current RAM prices are to blame. Regardless, this disparity didn't seem to have a negative impact during my testing.

It probably won't shock you to learn that the Find X9 Ultra performs like the best of them. It feels super snappy, no matter what you're doing. That's partly thanks to the optimization and animation style of the ColorOS platform, and partly due to the amount of raw horsepower under the hood.

I played a few hours of Wuthering Waves on the highest graphical settings, and the Find X9 Ultra handled it perfectly. The phone's frame got quite toasty after a while, but it never became uncomfortable to hold, and the framerates remained rock steady.

Of course, if you're more interested in productivity than gaming, the performance of the Find X9 Ultra will help there, too. I was able to combine multiple clips of high-bitrate 4K video in Luma Fusion, and the phone barely broke a sweat.

It's also worth mentioning the speakers, as they're quite impressive. There's an audible improvement compared to the previous model, with better clarity at the top end and almost zero distortion at max volume.

• Performance score: 5 / 5

Oppo Find X9 Ultra review: Software

• ColorOS 16, based on Android 16
• New AI features
• Styling updates and Mind Space

ColorOS has been my favourite Android skin for a while now, and Oppo continues to improve it with new features. The basics remain the same, so if you used a recent Oppo, OnePlus, or Realme device, you'll have a good idea of what's in store.

Recent versions of the software have some very Apple-like touches, which seems to be a trend with Chinese brands of late. There are Liquid Glass-looking elements, a Dynamic Island clone, depth effects, and stretched clocks for the lock screen; even the UI for the Action Button looks identical to Apple's.

Again, no awards for originality, but I can't help liking what Oppo has done here. These features all look fantastic, and the Dynamic Island-like cutout is as useful as ever, allowing me to quickly get to my media playback, timers, and more.

As for what's new, there's a lock screen feature called Live Space, which looks very similar to Samsung's Now Bar. It's found in the same place at the bottom of your screen, but this one just displays notifications, rather than AI updates.

Oppo has also been hard at work on its AI Mind Space app. It's still in beta, but it basically works like Nothing's Essential Space or the Screenshots app on a Samsung or Pixel phone. It collects screenshots of important information and uses AI to organize them, summarize them, and make them searchable.

Oppo differentiates itself with the features it adds on top. If you often take photos or screenshots of your receipts, for instance, the new AI Bill Manager can help you keep track of your finances.

There's also a new feature called Mind Pilot, which lets you chat with Gemini, Perplexity, and Deep Seek, all from a single app. The idea is that Mind Pilot will match your query with the AI that's most suited to help.

It could be handy if you're a chatbot hopper, but unfortunately, on my prerelease software, Mind Pilot wasn't working correctly. It would match my query with an AI, but then the answer would never materialize.

There are some other features that aren't quite as new, but are still worth mentioning. I love O+ Connect, which is a piece of software that lets me control my Mac or PC with my phone, and vice versa. It even lets me copy and paste between the two, which is super handy.

There's also a feature called AI Speak, which reads websites aloud in a natural-sounding voice, no matter which browser you use. It's nothing new, but it's just as handy as ever.

When it comes to long-term support, Oppo pledges five years of major OS upgrades and six years of security patches to the Find X9 Ultra. That's behind the likes of Samsung and Google, but it's not a bad offering.

• Software score: 4 / 5

Oppo Find X9 Ultra review: Battery

• 7,050mAh silicon-carbon battery
• 100W wired charging
• 50W wireless charging

The Oppo Find X9 Ultra has a 7,050mAh battery, which is big, but bizarrely, it's significantly smaller than the 7,500mAh pack found in the Pro model. I suppose all of these giant camera sensors take up space that would otherwise be filled with a battery.

Still, that battery will last you a long time. I couldn't consistently squeeze two days of use from this phone like I could with the Find X9 Pro, but a day and a half was pretty typical with my usage.

Of course, your mileage with the Find X9 Ultra will vary depending on how you use it. The camera system seems to be the most power-hungry, followed by high-end mobile games, but that's not too surprising.

When it's time to charge, the Find X9 Ultra won't have you waiting for long. It supports speeds of up to 100W with the right charger, but you don't get one in the box, just a USB-C cable.

Just half an hour on the charger was enough to take this phone from zero to over 70%. However, that's with Oppo's official wall adapter; third-party chargers take far longer.

Wireless charging is also rapid. This phone can charge at 50W with one of Oppo's AirVooc chargers, which is incredibly convenient, but those chargers don't come cheap.

• Battery score: 4 / 5

Should you buy the Oppo Find X9 Ultra?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Oppo Find X9 Ultra review: Also consider

The Oppo Find X9 Ultra is one of the best phones we've ever tested, but it's important to consider the competition, too. Here are a couple of competitors worth looking at.

How I tested the Oppo Find X9 Ultra

• Review test period: Two weeks
• Testing included: Everyday use, including web browsing, social media, photography, video calling, gaming, streaming video, music playback
• Tools used: Geekbench 6, 3DMark, native Android stats

I used the Oppo Find X9 Ultra as my main phone for around two weeks. I used it exactly as I would any other phone, taking lots of photos and videos, gaming, messaging, working, streaming video, and navigating with Google Maps.

I also compared the experience of playing graphically challenging games like Wuthering Waves to my experience on other Android flagships like the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra and Oppo Find X9 Pro. I ran lots of benchmarks on the handset, including 3DMark and Geekbench, to confirm my performance findings.

I tested the battery performance based on my real-world usage, and charging times were measured using an official Oppo charger and cable.

First tested April 2026

Although I’ve watched countless pieces of media or played dozens of video games and board games that draw on the Cthulhu mythos and the works of HP Lovecraft, I was suddenly struck by one question I don’t think I’ve ever properly considered while writing this review of Big Bad Wolf’s solid investigation puzzler, Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss. What does Cthulhu want?

As I’m trawling through audio logs, video diaries, and messages left by a research crew and its billionaire funder in an abandoned underwater facility and an otherworldly city, I witness how they all succumb to the call of the Great Old One and become fixated on bringing about his/its/their return.

And while by the end I’d solved some mysteries and smugly puzzled out how to keep Cthulhu slumbering, I still didn’t know what the big tentacle-faced beast got out of it all apart from a few mindless, raving fans.

Can I be your number one fan?

I guess you could argue that’s the whole point. Cthulhu is supposed to be a being beyond our comprehension, from a place with impossible geography, so I should just take the win and be happy I was able to stop him from awakening before being subsumed into the fandom.

But while some things may never be understood, Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss is all about solving what you can. As an occult investigator, Noah, you use tech and your wits to explore the grotesque and fascinating environments of a flooded bayou to the sunken city of R’lyeh. It’s a game of scanning for clues, absorbing the relevant information, making connections, and figuring out how it will help you stop Cthulhu.

What that ultimately means is that this is a game with a lot of reading, a lot of listening, and a lot of work outside the game, shuffling the facts around inside your brain as you piece it all together. Fortunately, it’s never interrupted by the threat of a monster attack or an enemy stalking you throughout the area like a Soma or Amnesia. Some wrong moves or wayward exploration will result in death, but it’s easy to avoid this if you’re paying attention.

To help visualise all of your clues, you do get given a mind map of sorts that allows you to move clues around and draw connections where you think they are relevant, but most of the time, the game will prompt you on the important questions that need answering to progress.

Added to that is an energy system that allows you to analyze clues and items, to better understand what they are and how they can be useful to your investigation. And while this is supposedly a limited resource, each area is full of the fungus that you can use to recharge it (yep, Noah basically powers up like Mario), so I just ended up scanning everything when I had the chance. Because of that, the whole system feels superfluous.

The same goes for the upgrades and augments you can find or earn from special tablets or shrines dotted around each area. You can only equip a limited number based on your maximum capacity, but when all they offer are small bonuses, such as an increase in your scanner range or a chance to restore energy when analyzing clues, the decision of what to equip doesn’t matter all that much.

Fortunately, you can still investigate and puzzle solve fully while both the energy and augment systems just exist in the background without requiring you to engage with them. I can only assume they must have been added to make Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss feel more gamey, but I don’t think they add anything of value.

Jarvis, activate 'see everything' mode

One aspect you will be engaging with a lot is the sonar built into your AI companion, Key. Using the frequencies you gain from analyzing clues, you can set and search for nearby items that match the frequency. This becomes a loop for part of the game’s puzzle-solving.

For example, a component made of a specific alloy might be missing from a piece of equipment, so you can scan the surrounding area for alloys that match that frequency to find it. Relatively straightforward, then, but the game does expand on this idea a handful of times by making certain key frequencies harder to find or requiring you to combine frequencies to find more specific items and secrets.

I liked it enough as an idea, but as with all of these special vision types in games (I'm looking at you, Arkham detective mode), I ended up simply cycling through what I thought was a relevant frequency and spamming it in each new location to be sure I wasn’t missing any clues.

That’s not to say the game’s puzzles are bad. I did enjoy investigating a lot, with many solutions requiring you to take in all of the information given to you. There are moments where you feel like you are uncovering the secrets of an ancient civilization, learning how to use their bizarre technology, or piecing together the lives and relationships of the original research team as they descended into madness.

What’s also interesting is that chapters give you two possible solutions to the main puzzle: one that pushes you more towards the corrupting influence of Cthulhu, and another (often slightly more elaborate) that lessens the Great Old One’s control over you and the world. It’s a neat idea that rewards you for following a different path than the obvious one and encourages you to fully consider all the clues presented to you.

A sacrifice I am willing to make

The choices you make can affect the state of the world, characters, and your final ending, so I really appreciate a usually very linear puzzle game offering up some more freeform elements that give you more influence over the story — and a chance to try alternate paths if you feel stuck on one route or are keen for a second playthrough.

I doubt I’ll be diving in again, though, as I feel happy with everything I got out of Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss on the first go. It has some rough edges, namely an inconsistent autosave, which meant I had to repeat some steps when loading my game on a few occasions. There are also fussy item manipulation mechanics and some ideas that aren’t fully realised.

However, its core investigation gameplay is strong, and the atmosphere is suitably sinister, so I’m sure anyone who enjoys a puzzle game with a dash of cosmic horror will come away satisfied enough — especially for a budget release.

Should you play Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss?

Play it if…

Don’t play it if…

Accessibility

Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss has two difficulty modes: Investigation and Exploration. The first is the standard experience, while the second allows you to ask your AI companion for hints and shows the clues available in each location. You can also set a custom option to tweak how much corruption affects you and how energy is used.

Elsewhere, there are three color blind modes for green, red, and blue color blindness, the option to make subtitles clearer, disable head movement to ease motion sickness, and fully rebind all controls.

How I reviewed Cronos: The New Dawn

I played Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss for around 8 hours on a PlayStation 5 Pro on a Samsung S90C OLED TV and Samsung HW-Q930C soundbar while using a DualSense Wireless Controller.

I played the whole game in Performance mode and still experienced a few technical hitches and moments of slowdown, so I wouldn’t risk Quality mode without a major patch.

In my time playing, I completed the game once and saw one of the possible endings, although I did have to replay an early chapter three times due to an autosave issue, which should now be fixed in the full release. However, I did still find the autosave unreliable, and that probably bumped up my total playtime by at least an hour.

First reviewed April 2026.

Having played a bit of Capcom’s space action-adventure game Pragmata at Summer Game Fest last year, its AI-infused story and lunar setting, and its original combat that mixes hacking and gunplay at the same time, had its hooks in me.

I now know the game has delivered on those intriguing themes — and more.

The combat is a true success, and the combination of simultaneous hacking, weapons, and the need for nimble movement and to be constantly aware can make for some excellent encounters, full of flow and sequence, and high-stakes danger. Almost without exception, balancing the hacking and weapons works completely too — yes, it forces you to multitask in the heat of battle, but somehow you quickly learn to look at both enemy and hacking screen like an Apache pilot, and execute a swift combo of both. It’s incredibly satisfying.

The setting and story provide the perfect capsule for the combat, too, and Diana and Hugh’s journey together is a memorable one. There’s a depiction of AI that feels rather timely, the moon base is exquisitely designed, featuring some extremely cool areas, and while not wholly unique, the relationship between the central pair is warm and sweet, and grows over the course of the game.

Hacked off

Visiting the Deplhi Corporation’s moonbase to investigate what happened after its communications ceased, astronaut Hugh is rescued from peril by young android girl Diana and soon learns that she’s not someone to just be protected, but someone who he can work with during every combat scenario to gain the upper hand against hostile security bots.

With Diana perched on your back, taking down foes involves completing a little on-screen matching puzzle (representing the girl’s hacking abilities) alongside traditional third-person shooting with Hugh’s arsenal of futuristic guns. Not only does Diana’s hack make enemies more susceptible to Hugh’s weapons in a bit of a one-two punch, but there are also status effects and extra boosts to damage that can be gained from each successful hack — though that often means spending a few more vital seconds navigating your way through a tricky matrix to hoover up some extra points.

Getting Pragmata’s action right is always incredibly satisfying — pulling off a tricky manual hack, quickly dodging an attack, and then following up with a rain of damage with a proton laser or shotgun to the head just feels great. Once you factor in the level of awareness you need, and the ability to quickly dodge to slow time at the right point, the complexity grows, but never overwhelms.

From low-grade walker bots through the ranks of tougher specimens all the way up to some pretty bombastic boss fights, there’s a deep satisfaction to be had from concentrating on combos, hacking nodes, and learning moves and weak points of enemies. The latter on bosses reminded me a lot of the Horizon games; identifying and learning weak points to target while dodging attacks around an arena.

Something else to consider is that Hugh’s guns are disposable and thrown away when empty. This means you constantly have to think on the fly and adapt to whatever weapons are around once your favorite is depleted. For example, I hated a chargeable laser weapon in the beginning, but grew to like it and rely on it as a result of necessity demanding I use it in times of need.

You can tailor your methods to your preferences, too, with a range of upgrades, abilities, and augmentations for combat, ready to be applied in a central hub once you’ve gathered enough resources. However, it’s worth noting that you won’t get to enjoy the full suite of weapons and gear until you venture back into a New Game Plus adventure, which is slightly saddening as I would have liked to experience everything in one go, trying out all the weapon types, and building fully personalised loadouts from all the options to master the game’s adventure, and its climax, in one sitting.

Lunar vibes

The lunar base provides the perfect backdrop for these enemy encounters, too.

It’s incredibly well done and fantastically realised. featuring several highly cool environments from an M.C. Escher-like 3D-printed, AI-generated New York cityscape to a nature-filled biome as standouts. All of the zones look spectacular and are full of nooks and crannies to explore and design quirks to enjoy. These contrast well with the clinical, almost NASA-looking aesthetic of the rest of the base, with its massive domes and towers and skywalks.

There are some almost metroidvania in the world, too: opening up shortcuts, having strategically placed save and fast travel points, and even a little bit of Dark Souls in the return of enemies once killed in areas when you go back to them.

The narrative is not outrageously new or unique, and it starts off a little slow, but among all the bots and AI and sci-fi, there's a very human throughline. There’s a particular sequence in the second half of the game where Hugh and Diana slowly explore a series of rooms and offices; a nice change of pace, with a slow reveal of information through found files, an accompanying chill soundtrack, a noticeable change in the mood of our protagonists as they understand more, plus the uncovering of events that had occurred before Hugh’s arrival. Magic.

The relationship between Hugh and Diana works and pleasantly changes over time. At first, Diana’s playful innocence offsets the gruffness of Hugh — not totally unlike elements in The Last of Us, for example — but soon they want to spend more time together, and start making plans. Hugh begins teaching Diana about Earth and human ways of life, and it’s all quite sweet and parental. Both characters are wonderfully voiced, and by the end, I couldn’t help but come to care about both of them.

Pragmata is a wonderful, compact, space adventure with heart and soul. But that’s not to say it’s completely without a few things that stain the sheen, such as Diana’s and Hugh’s in-game, moment-to-moment commentary getting a little tiresome, some lazy enemy encounters in the back half that just lock you into smaller and smaller areas for mandatory multi-enemy fights, and a last section that does drag on a little too long.

But, all in all, Pragmata has been worth the long wait, and worthy of its place in Capcom’s pantheon of action games. Even though it’s over in a flash, its combat and hacking mix is exciting enough to pull me back in for another adventure via New Game Plus.

Should you play Pragmata?

Play it if...

Don't play it if...

Accessibility features

Pragmata has several grouped accessibility settings that can be adjusted in sets, though there are no colorblind options, which is a shame. These include a visual accessibility preset which changes language, subtitle size, and background; an audio accessibility set which changes subtitles, speaker display, and closed captioning; and a motion sickness accessibility set of features which includes center reticle display, motion blur, lens distortion, and depth of field.

How I reviewed Pragmata

I played Pragmata on a PS5 Pro teamed with a Samsung Q6F 55-inch 4K QLED TV and Samsung soundbar for about 10 hours, completing the main story and doing some exploring to boot.

I used a standard DualSense Wireless controller, and I also played for a bunch of hours on my PlayStation Portal. When using a headset, I relied on a SteelSeries Arctis Nova Elite or an Audeze Maxwell 2.

First reviewed April 2026

Ooma Office stands out as a reliable, no-contract VoIP solution crafted specifically for small businesses that prioritize simplicity and affordability in their communication needs.

As of early 2026, its pricing structure remains competitive, starting at $19.95 per user per month, and recent updates have expanded features, including advanced analytics, deeper CRM integrations, and enhanced security options, to better support modest growth.

This comprehensive review covers every key aspect—from an introductory overview to detailed comparisons—drawing on the latest available information to help business owners determine whether Ooma Office aligns with their operations.

Ooma Office VoIP: Plans and pricing

Ooma Office maintains a straightforward, tiered pricing model that scales with small teams without locking users into long-term commitments, a major draw for startups and SMBs wary of hidden fees.

The entry-level Essentials plan costs $19.95 per user per month (billed monthly) and packs over 50 essential features, such as unlimited domestic calling to the US, Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico, a virtual receptionist for professional call greeting, seamless mobile app access for on-the-go communication, and even one complimentary toll-free number with 500 included minutes (overages billed at roughly 3¢ per minute). Taxes and regulatory fees are bundled into the quoted price, simplifying budgeting.

Stepping up to the Pro plan at $24.95 per user per month unlocks significant productivity boosters, including a dedicated desktop app for computer-based calling, 250 SMS text messages per month (with additional texts at $0.0095 each), videoconferencing for up to 25 participants via Ooma Meetings, one-touch call recording, and automatic voicemail transcription sent directly to email. This tier appeals to teams that need more than basic telephony, such as quick video huddles or message logs for follow-ups.

The top-tier Pro Plus plan, priced at $29.95 per user per month, caters to slightly larger or more feature-hungry operations with 1,000 monthly texts, videoconferencing scaled to 100 participants, robust CRM integrations (e.g., Salesforce, HubSpot), hot desking for shared extensions, advanced call queuing, team chat functionality, and an auto dialer for outbound campaigns. For enterprises eyeing SIP trunking, multi-site management, custom analytics dashboards, and dedicated call center tools, a bespoke Enterprise plan is available through direct sales quotes, often tailored for 50+ users.

Add-ons keep costs predictable: extra phone numbers cost $9.95 per month; toll-free minutes beyond the bundle incur low per-minute rates; and hardware such as IP desk phones starts at a one-time $59.99 purchase (with bring-your-own-device support). Number porting remains free, though some initial setups may include a $29.95 activation fee. Compared to legacy phone systems, Ooma's model eliminates the hefty upfront hardware investments and maintenance contracts, making it a cost-effective pivot for businesses in rural areas where reliable VoIP is essential.

Ooma Office VoIP: Features

Ooma Office's feature set emphasizes reliability and core business tools, with over 100 capabilities distributed across tiers to avoid overwhelming small users.

Universal access points include Ooma-enabled IP phones, the cross-platform mobile app (iOS/Android), and softphone options, supporting crystal-clear HD voice calls, SMS/MMS messaging, and fax-to-email conversion.

Ring groups allow simultaneous or sequential ringing across extensions—ideal for sales or support teams—while music-on-hold, call forwarding, and virtual extensions ensure no call drops during off-hours.

Pro and higher tiers elevate the experience with call analytics tracking duration, volume, and outcomes; dynamic caller ID that displays team-specific info; enhanced call blocking powered by Nomorobo (flagging over 2 million spam numbers daily); and Ooma Meetings for video calls with screen sharing, recording, and participant controls.
Integrations have matured significantly, now linking with Salesforce and HubSpot for Pro Plus (contact sync, logging), QuickBooks for billing tie-ins, and Google Workspace/Microsoft 365 for calendar-based availability routing.

Pro Plus exclusives such as shared voicemail pools, online appointment booking widgets, HIPAA-compliant mode (with a Business Associate Agreement for handling protected health information), and performance leaderboards foster team accountability.

Multi-site support lets distributed teams (e.g., a PA headquarters with remote reps) manage unified directories, while bulk user imports streamline onboarding. Recent 2026 enhancements focus on AI-driven insights, such as call sentiment analysis previews in Enterprise, positioning Ooma as more than just a phone system but a lightweight UCaaS platform.

Ooma Office VoIP: Getting set up

Getting Ooma Office operational typically spans 15-30 minutes, starting with a quick online signup, number selection or porting (free, processed in one to seven days), and app downloads. Bulk CSV imports handle user provisioning for teams, auto-assigning extensions and devices; compatible IP phones plug into Ethernet for instant provisioning via Ooma's cloud.

For analog holdouts, Ooma adapters bridge existing handsets at low cost. Multi-location setups involve assigning site-specific prefixes and failover rules through the portal—no on-site servers required. Optional white-glove activation ($29.95+) includes expert walkthroughs, ideal for first-timers. Post-setup, firmware auto-updates ensure uptime, with 99.99% reliability SLA on higher plans.

Ooma Office VoIP: Ease of Use

Navigating Ooma Office feels intuitive from the first login, thanks to a clean web-based admin portal that prioritizes speed over complexity—perfect for non-technical owners juggling multiple roles. Adding users, extensions, or ring groups takes just minutes via drag-and-drop interfaces, with customizable ring timers (e.g., 20 seconds per phone before failover) and unlimited virtual receptionist greetings that are recordable directly in the browser.

The mobile app mirrors desktop functionality for calls, texts, and presence indicators (busy/available), enabling field reps to stay connected without lugging hardware.

Pro users rave about the desktop softphone's company directory, one-click video launches, and speed dial groups, which scale decently up to 20-30 seats before feeling crowded. Overall, its low learning curve minimizes training time and earns high marks in user reviews for "set-it-and-forget-it" reliability.

Ooma Office VoIP: Support

Ooma delivers round-the-clock support via phone (US-based reps), email ticketing, and live chat, resolving 90% of issues same-day per user feedback. A self-service knowledge base brims with 100+ video tutorials on ring groups, integrations, and troubleshooting, plus a community forum for peer tips.

Enterprise clients access white-glove onboarding, custom SLAs, and a dedicated account manager. Response times average under 2 minutes for chat, making it responsive for urgent outages—strong for the price point.

Ooma Office VoIP: Security and privacy

Ooma prioritizes end-to-end encryption for all voice, video, and text traffic (SRTP/TLS protocols), safeguarding data in transit and at rest against intercepts.

Pro/Pro Plus tiers amplify protection with intelligent spam screening (Nomorobo integration blocks robocalls proactively) and password-locked meetings, while HIPAA mode on Pro Plus enforces audit logs, data retention controls, and a signed BAA for healthcare compliance—crucial for PA clinics handling PHI.

The privacy policy outlines data collection limited to service delivery (call logs, billing), with no-sale assurances but legal disclosures permitted. Account access relies on strong passwords, though multi-factor authentication is absent as of 2026 reviews—a noted gap relative to enterprise peers. Regular vulnerability scans and SOC 2 compliance underpin trust for SMBs.

Ooma Office VoIP: The competition

While Ooma Office excels in simplicity and value for small teams, it faces stiff competition from more feature-rich UCaaS platforms at similar prices.

Nextiva's Essential plan starts at $19-$25 per user per month (annual billing), delivering superior call reporting, unlimited SMS/video, and unlimited international minutes to 40+ countries, though it caps advanced AI on base tiers and requires annual commitments.

RingCentral starts at $20 per user per month, with 90+ native integrations (including AI transcription and bots as standard), robust analytics for mid-market scaling, but costs rise for premium video or global expansion.

GoTo Connect, at $27 per user per month for five-plus users, excels in hyper-flexible routing (skills-based queues), deep Salesforce syncing, and granular origin-based reports—ideal for sales-heavy firms—but its interface can feel busier for absolute beginners.

Budget-conscious options like Dialpad undercut at $15 per user per month, bundling AI real-time coaching and transcription across plans, yet skimp on video conferencing depth and toll-free allotments. Finally, 8x8 matches Ooma's $24 entry with 100+ global calling features and contact center add-ons, but its steeper learning curve and setup complexity better serve established enterprises over scrappy startups.

Ooma Office VoIP: Final verdict

Ooma Office remains a top pick for small businesses, those that crave plug-and-play VoIP with virtual receptionist polish and affordable upgrades. Its 2026 refinements in analytics, HIPAA support, and integrations close prior gaps, offering solid mileage without bloat.

That said, if your team anticipates rapid scaling, heavy reporting, or 50+ users, competitors such as Nextiva or RingCentral offer deeper tools at comparable costs, making a trial comparison warranted.

San Francisco-based Dialpad is a leading name in the VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) communications industry, offering cloud-based phone systems designed for modern businesses.

Known for its emphasis on artificial intelligence and cross-platform collaboration, Dialpad stands out as a flexible, scalable tool for companies of all sizes. As businesses increasingly move away from traditional phone systems, Dialpad faces competition from major providers like RingCentral, Zoom, Nextiva, and 8x8.

Choosing the right platform depends on several factors, including company size, calling patterns, and the importance of advanced AI features within your workflow.

Dialpad VoIP: Plans and pricing

Dialpad structures its VoIP service across three main tiers: Standard, Pro, and Enterprise. Each plan includes unlimited domestic calling within your country, the US, and Canada, as well as unlimited text and multimedia messaging. Additionally, all plans offer unlimited video calling, though group meeting capacity is limited to 10 participants.

The Standard plan costs $27 per user per month, or $15 when billed annually. It includes AI-driven features like real-time call transcription, automated voicemail summaries, and integration with Google Workspace. This tier best suits smaller teams seeking a streamlined, intelligent calling solution with minimal integration requirements.

The Pro plan increases flexibility and is priced at $35 per user per month or $25 annually, and adds compatibility with apps such as Microsoft Teams, Slack, Zendesk, and HubSpot. It supports 10 office locations and offers 24/7 customer support, making it a strong fit for mid-sized organizations.

The Enterprise plan is customized for larger corporations. It includes unlimited office support, a 100% uptime guarantee, advanced analytics, and single sign-on with identity services such as Okta. Pricing is available only by contacting Dialpad directly.

Businesses can try Dialpad with a 14-day free trial, slightly shorter than the 30-day period offered by some rivals but still sufficient for most teams to evaluate the service in full.

Dialpad VoIP: Features

Dialpad distinguishes itself with advanced AI-powered voice intelligence technology. This system automatically transcribes calls in real time, creates detailed post-call summaries, and identifies actionable insights for customer service or sales teams. Such functionality transforms basic VoIP communication into a productivity-enhancing tool.

Beyond AI tools, Dialpad’s VoIP platform offers robust telephony features, including call recording, forwarding, three-way calling, and voicemail management. Hold queues are available on all but the Standard plan, making team collaboration smoother during high call volumes. For video communication, Dialpad provides reliable web conferencing with features such as screen sharing, conference controls, and customizable hold music.

Companies seeking extended conferencing capabilities can subscribe to the separate Dialpad Meetings plans. These are available in both free and paid versions, priced at $20 per user per month or $15 per user per year. Dialpad also supports virtual faxing directly from the desktop dashboard, available as an add-on at an affordable price based on the chosen plan.

Dialpad VoIP: Getting started

Setting up Dialpad is straightforward thanks to its cloud-based nature.

New users can port existing phone numbers or create new ones during account setup. The administrative dashboard provides step-by-step guidance for adding team members, assigning extensions, and setting up voicemail and routing preferences.

Because Dialpad operates entirely online, there is no need for traditional PBX hardware or on-premises installation. Integrations with business tools such as Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, or popular CRM platforms can be enabled with minimal technical effort. Most small teams can go from sign-up to first call within a few hours.

Dialpad VoIP: Ease of use

Dialpad’s design emphasizes simplicity and intuitive control.

The web application offers quick access to calling, messaging, voicemail, and contact management, while the desktop software for Windows and Mac provides a richer interface with advanced analytics and configuration settings.

Users can easily review recordings, transcripts, and activity logs within the app. The admin dashboard includes a detailed analytics panel that tracks call volume, duration, and activity trends over time. Overall, Dialpad’s interface is modern, responsive, and approachable for both technical and non-technical employees.

Dialpad VoIP: Support

Customer support for Dialpad is reliable and well-organized.

Assistance is available via live chat, phone, and online ticket submission. A detailed Help Center offers hundreds of tutorials, guides, and video walkthroughs, complemented by an active community forum for peer support.

Standard plan users receive access to support on a 24/5 basis, which is adequate for most small businesses operating during standard work hours. Higher-tier Pro and Enterprise customers benefit from 24/7 support, ensuring technical help is always available. Overall response times are prompt, and support quality is consistent with Dialpad’s premium positioning.

Dialpad VoIP: Security and privacy

Dialpad maintains a rigorous approach to data security and privacy management.

All calls and messages are encrypted in transit using Transport Layer Security (TLS), and stored data is protected by AES 256-bit encryption. These measures meet industry best practices and minimize exposure to potential breaches.

Administrators can define user permissions, assign access levels, and manage integrations to maintain control over account activity. Dialpad complies with SOC 2 Type II and GDPR standards and offers audit logging to track administrative changes. The company’s transparency about its privacy practices inspires confidence, particularly for regulated industries that rely on secure communications.

Dialpad VoIP: The competition

While Dialpad offers one of the most comprehensive business VoIP experiences, it faces significant competition.

RingCentral remains a feature-rich option with broader integrations and higher participant limits for video conferencing. Zoom Phone appeals to organizations already using Zoom’s video tools, offering seamless adoption.

Nextiva delivers strong overall value for larger meetings, while 8x8’s X Series packages are affordable for small startups. Aircall, meanwhile, stands out for its CRM-focused integrations and clean user experience, although its monthly costs can rise quickly for growing teams.

Dialpad’s combination of AI innovation, competitive pricing, and clean interface makes it an especially appealing option for companies seeking a balance among simplicity, intelligence, and functionality.

Dialpad VoIP: Final verdict

Dialpad continues to demonstrate why it ranks among the best VoIP providers in 2026. Its AI-infused call management, user-friendly design, and flexible pricing structure make it an outstanding choice for small and mid-sized businesses. The service scales effortlessly, integrates cleanly with leading business tools, and offers automation that genuinely improves productivity.

Although its video call participant cap is more restrictive than some providers', Dialpad’s powerful voice technology and security features more than compensate. With strong reliability, transparent pricing, and a free trial, Dialpad is one of the most well-rounded modern VoIP platforms for professional communications.

When I first heard about 1348 Ex Voto, I was instantly intrigued. A medieval Italian setting, sword fights, a dark and dramatic quest with a knight at the centre of it; and a lady knight at that? Count me in!

In developer Sedleo's third-person action game set during 14th-century Italy, you play as Aeta, a young nobleman's daughter and trained knight-errant, who is dealing with the loss of her father after pestilence swept through her village.

When the rest of her hometown is massacred by unknown forces and Bianca, her closest companion and former household servant, is suddenly kidnapped, it's up to Aeta, armed with her determination and skill with a longsword, to come to the rescue.

A true knight

I'm a sucker for a dark tale that follows a character on a high-stakes quest, so the premise of Ex Voto had my attention immediately from the prologue. It's a classic narrative about whether the end can ever justifies the means, and Aeta's unfailing resolve and heroism, as well as her naivety, make for a compelling character amid a setting filled with lawlessness.

The game consists of nine relatively short chapters that take place across rocky landscapes, lush woodland, the ruins of ancient Rome, and the villas of a medieval Italian countryside. I finished it in roughly seven hours, but it's possible to beat it within one sitting if you don't die too often or spend the extra time scouring every corner looking for hidden treasures.

As childhood companions (and later suggested to be lovers), Aeta, played by Alby Baldwin, has an unwavering devotion to Jennifer English's Bianca, so her vow to track down and rescue her from her captors was a journey I was prepared to fall in love with.

As the playable protagonist, I did like Aeta for the most part. Throughout her quest, she is forced into encounters that test her faith, and you witness how resilient she becomes in not just tracking down Bianca but also finding those responsible for all this destruction.

Heroes like Aeta, who are defined by their selflessness and driven by a strong moral code, are some of my favorite characters in fiction, especially in stories with a woman in the lead role.

Aeta is shaped by the chivalric tales she grew up with, which inspired her to become a knight-errant in the first place, but due to how short the game is, there weren't enough opportunities to dig deeper into her character beyond the vow she made to her god and devotion to Bianca, which felt like a missed opportunity.

Additionally, Ex Voto suffers from too much telling, and not enough showing. The simple premise of the game and Aeta's arduous quest should be strong enough to stand on its own, but her unnecessary commentary just becomes irritating.

I don't typically mind when protagonists have an internal monologue, but it gets to a point. In Ex Voto, instead of simply letting the lovely linear environments tell the story, Aeta often comments on literally everything she sees: whether it be pointing out the obvious, repeating her latest point of interest, or the countless times she proclaims her vow to save Bianca.

The latter is also one of the reasons why I wasn't completely sold on Aeta and Bianca's story. Aside from the short prologue and a few other scenes I won't spoil, the closeness they share just didn't feel real enough to grasp onto. Aeta wants to save Bianca; that's her main goal, but the journey lacks the emotional depth that I expected.

Baldwin and English's great voice work does most of the heavy lifting in trying to make their bond believable, but their underdeveloped relationship couldn't make me to care too deeply. It's a shame, because these sorts of love stories are a dime a dozen in video games, and it wasn't helped by the disjointed story beats, particularly mid-game.

Each chapter tasks you with getting from one area to the next, on the trail of Bianca and her captors, followed by a short time skip that begins the proceeding chapter. This is a short, linear experience, so there's not much in terms of exploration; you'll mainly be stocking up on provisions, finding trinkets, treasures, and sword parts, or moving boxes or carts to overcome obstacles. And taking down baddies, of course.

Without spoiling anything, I will admit the final act took me by surprise but, because the exploration of Aeta and Bianca's bond felt so underutilized within the story, the climax rang hollow.

Performance woes

Now let's get the worst of it out of the way. I played 1348 Ex Voto on PC and let's just say I was sorely disappointed in the optimization.

My PC is fitted with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti graphics card, an AMD Ryzen 7 5700X 8-core CPU, and 16GB of RAM, and with this mid-range build, I can typically play some pretty demanding modern games. However, the small indieEx Voto struggled tremendously.

When at high settings at 1440p resolution (though I tried 4K too), locked at 60 frames per second (fps), the game's performance dropped to between 20 and 30fps and stuttering was prevalent, with the same problems persisting even at medium settings.

After fiddling with settings for ages, I eventually resorted to putting the game in low settings and saw a big boost in performance up to 60fps, although the game frequently saw huge dips down to 30fps, especially in areas featuring an overwhelming amount of detail on screen, like in highly detailed woodland or places featuring atmospheric shadows.

Aeta and other characters also suffer the same fate. With all low settings, the realism and emotional weight that are intended to be translated through their models are lost, making them look like puppets, and I would be lying if I didn't say it put me off.

It's a bummer, because the game's realistic style and appealing, cinematic direction were one of the things that drew me in in the first place. I was essentially forced to sacrifice the gorgeous visuals if I wanted even a crumb of good performance, and even then, it wasn't always perfect.

While less frustrating, I did run into a few annoying bugs, though they weren't game-breaking enough to require me winding back my save. At one point early on, I encountered an awful, yet hilarious issues where a character kept repeating his lines over and over again during a lengthy cutscene. It was so distracting that I couldn't even pay attention to any of the dialogue, and it basically ruined the atmosphere of the entire scene.

Aside from this, and a few other interaction bugs where I couldn't pick up provisions and move a box properly, the main issue revolved around the performance, and I think the game should've been kept in the oven a little longer so Sedleo could smooth out the cracks.

During the review period, I wasn't given the chance to try out the PlayStation 5 version, so I'm really curious if Ex Voto offers a more stable experience than PC.

Stick 'em with the pointy end

Ex Voto's saving grace is its sword-fighting combat system. Your sole weapon is your longsword, which gives you a one-handed and two-handed stance. The first lets Aeta attack faster in broad strokes, but strikes deal slightly less damage, while the latter attacks slower, with a shorter range, and deals slightly more damage.

One-on-one battles is definitely the game's strongest suit; sword fights feel stylish and rewarding, particularly when you're able to repeatedly execute perfect parries and stagger an enemy by breaking their guard, leaving them open for a killing blow.

Aeta's longsword can also be upgraded by finding different parts along your journey, each with its own attributes that offer alternative fighting styles. The game's skill tree, which consists of four key categories and can be unlocked by finding scrolls in the world, also features additional ways to upgrade your Health, Guard, and Food gauges (which are vital in longer battles) as well as your two stances.

Trinkets are another special item that, when equipped, will impact gameplay with unique effects. Each trinket has a cost, so you can't equip them all, but they do make or break a fight.

You start with the Toy Knight, a trinket that automatically uses all the food in your inventory to prevent death, but you can find a handful more, including one that lets you heal for double, which comes in handy in the latter part of the game when you're up against numerous enemies at once.

Speaking of, Ex Voto has a good variety of foes, along with three main bosses, across its nine chapters, all with their own weapon types and attack patterns that you'll need to learn how to counter by parrying and spending scrolls on the right skills.

There are points in combat where you are overwhelmed by multiple enemies at once, and, in the late game, additional foes spawn out of nowhere to join the fight making maintaining your gauges an even bigger challenge.

These five-on-one (even sometimes more) fights could sometimes feel finicky due to the game's lock-on mechanic, especially when you are pinned in close quarters. If you don't do a good enough job of collecting provisions, you may get soft-locked into fights when you die because of the autosave function.

While I enjoy combat a lot, there is no power scaling in the game so by the time I reached the final boss fight, I'd become so accustomed to the simple mechanics that I was able to beat them easily.

Just as it got in the way of being able to enjoy the visuals, the game's performance also affects gameplay. Not to the extent where it is unplayable, but stutters and small framerate dips are more noticeable in the aforementioned areas when so much is happening on screen.

Should you play 1348 Ex Voto?

Play it if...

Don't play it if...

Accessibility features

1348 Ex Voto suffers from a lack of accessibility options, only offering general graphics settings for motion blur and subtitles, and multiple language options. There are also no options to customize your keybinds on PC, which was something I struggled with.

How I reviewed 1348 Ex Voto

I spent roughly eight hours playing 1348 Ex Voto on my gaming PC with my Logitech G G715 wireless gaming keyboard and Logitech G703 wireless gaming mouse, completing the main storyline. I used a Gigabyte M32U gaming monitor, and used my Sony WH-CH520 wireless headphones for audio.

The game doesn't offer any additional performance modes to try out, but I compared the game's visuals and performance to other medieval action games, like Kingdom Come: Deliverance.

First reviewed March 2026

I was six when my Pokémon journey began. In 2004, I got a Game Boy Advance SP and went to a local toy store with my parents to get two games — I chose Sonic Advance 2 and Pokémon LeafGreen.

I’d play FireRed later, as well as Yellow, Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, and so on through the series (though I did stop doubling up for most generations from Diamond onwards), but LeafGreen was where it started. So it felt right for me to celebrate the series’ 30th birthday by enjoying the Nintendo Switch rerelease.

It’s everything I remember it being.

The look, the sound, the sense of adventure, it's all there perfectly recaptured on Nintendo’s latest system, and on Friday, 27th February, from 6pm until 3am, I couldn’t put this game down — I literally fell asleep on the sofa with my Switch 2 controllers in my hands.

When I awoke — at 1pm the next day — I grabbed a glass of water, nestled back into the groove in my couch, and picked up where I left off. I was in my own personal corner of heaven.

I adore this game. It hits the nostalgia sweet spot in a way only a few titles ever hope to be able to, and at the same time, I think it delivers the quintessential Pokémon experience that anyone can enjoy (be they newcomers or longtime fans like me). In fact, if you have yet to experience the phenomenon, this might be an excellent jumping-in point.

I do, however, feel this special release needed something a little more to completely justify itself to returning fans — beyond being simply existing in a way that isn’t a GBA cartridge.

Let’s Go

Remakes of the original Red and Green, which kicked off the series, FireRed and LeafGreen follow the same classic beats of the Kanto region that players first experienced in 1996.

You begin in Pallet Town where in Professor Oak’s Lab you choose one of Bulbasaur, Charmander or Squirtle to be your starting companion before heading off on your adventure to catch and train more Pocket Monsters (aka Pokémon), and defeat eight powerful Gym Leaders, the Elite Four, and Kanto’s champion — while also foiling the plans of the evil Team Rocket, and collecting 150 Kanto ‘mons for your PokéDex (Mew isn’t available in the Switch version for now).

There’s a sense of exploration to Kanto that isn’t so present in later titles. While there are hints you can learn by talking to non-player characters (NPCs), there’s not often a clear ‘Go here next’ sign to follow — especially in the middle section of the story, post gym three, where you are much freer to explore the remainder of the map.

This imbues FireRed and LeafGreen with a sense that this is a proper adventure rather than a pre-defined story you’re wandering through the beats of.

There’s something tough about the battles, too, that presents a more engaging challenge than the most recent generations. EXP isn’t shared amongst your whole team in these classics, keeping your party at a more balanced level to your foes, and there isn’t an abundance of Pokémon to choose from to build a perfect team early on, like you can in later entries.

I’m playing through the game as a Nuzlocke — a fan-made challenge based on the Pokémon: Hard Mode web comic by Nick Franco which imposes a few extra rules limiting how many ‘mons you can catch, and forcing you to release any that are defeated in battle — and after Nuzlocking later generations, where the concept of losing two companions to a Rattata in a single fight is inconceivable, I haven’t been entirely respectful of the difficulties LeafGreen can present and faced the consequences.

Hunting for something shiny

You can tell I adore LeafGreen and FireRed as much now as I did the original Game Boy games, but as I’m sitting playing them on my Nintendo Switch 2, I am left wanting more.

Unlike other Game Boy Advance ports on the Switch consoles, these aren’t part of the GBA catalogue you can access via the Switch Online + Expansion Pass membership, which costs $49.99 / £34.99 / AU$59.95 for 12 months. Instead, the games cost $19.99 / £16.99 / AU$30 each.

There are some advantages to keeping these games separate from the emulator, such as indefinite offline play and Pokémon Home integration, and some of the Nintendo Classics emulator’s tools (like rewind) could enable exploits the series tends to avoid (though that didn’t stop the return of arbitrary code execution with these Switch ports).

However, if Nintendo and The Pokémon Company are asking us to pay a premium for these entries compared to other GBA games on the Switch system, I would have liked something a little more than a simple rerelease (though I do appreciate the inclusion of event tickets, which you can unlock after defeating the Elite Four).

I’m not asking for much. Maybe a new small area to help with filling out the National Dex, challenge mode options like a randomizer or releasing them as a double pack with Ruby and Sapphire.

Perhaps I’m just spoiled by still having both of the original cartridges in a box under my bed alongside my aged Game Boy Advance, so I can play the originals whenever I want, but given this is the series 30th birthday, an extra splash of special to these launches would have been a cherry on top of what is otherwise a superb return to Kanto.

Should you play Pokémon LeafGreen and FireRed?

Play it if...

Don't buy it if...

Accessibility

Pokémon LeafGreen and FireRed don't have any specific in-built accessibility features, but they don't need them to be accessible.

The game's turn-based battles and simpler exploration allow you to play completely at your own pace in a way that should be approachable to almost everyone. You only ever need to be able to press one button at a time, so if you can do that, you can enjoy Pokémon LeafGreen.

How I tested Pokémon LeafGreen / FireRed

I have mostly played Pokémon LeafGreen for this review, and I have been enjoying it on my Nintendo Switch 2. To best mimic my classic GBA experience, I’ve played a lot of this game in handheld mode, though I did also play a lot in docked mode — especially during longer sessions where my Switch’s battery life became a concern.

On my Amazon Fire QLED TV, the classic game actually looked pretty good. I was expecting a blurry mess, but the sprites maintained their handheld charm.

My docked controller of choice is usually my 8BitDo Ultimate 2, though I did use my Joy-Cons a lot in my testing, so I could play a little more lazily on my couch.

First reviewed February-March 2026.

Alongside heroic questing and tear-evoking character arcs, an integral part of any RPG experience is the grinding. From prancing around fields in search of herbs to trawling caves for high-level beasties, this inevitable practice makes up a sizable chunk of any save file.

Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection, the latest addition to Capcom’s beloved creature-catching dynasty, doesn’t shy away from this reality, providing moreish mechanical loops and plenty of side stories as you explore its glorious fantasy adventure.

Set in the pastoral kingdom of Azuria, you play as the prince or, in my case, the princess of the land, who, on top of their royal duties, acts as the leader of the Rangers, a group of eco-conscious warriors who maintain the land.

One day, during a routine realm-protecting venture, a group of troops from the less-than-thriving neighbouring kingdom of Vermeil is spotted, leading to a tense standoff between the two nations. What ensues is a complex action-packed role-playing game (RPG) that leads the regal heir to the throne down a pithy rabbit hole, opening up questions about their past as they venture beyond the edges of their home in search of answers.

One more troubling wrinkle here is that on top of the bureaucratic chaos, rogue monsters are becoming infected with a strange crystal sickness that turns them into raging, psychopathic beasts – very unfortunate timing. Over the runtime, these dual investigations start to intertwine, with Twisted Reflection culminating in an emotional finale I thoroughly enjoyed working towards.

A heavy helping of exposition and a host of time-consuming tutorials mean this expedition starts off slow, and seasoned Monster Hunter Stories players will likely need to button mash through much of this to get to the juicy turn-based meat. Still, if you’re new to the IP or this turn-based iteration, you’ll be well taken care of here.

The Wild Hunt

Unlike the mainline Monster Hunter series, Stories switches up combat, cleverly adapting the high-octane experience into a much more friendly turn-based one.

You’ll still need to target specific body parts of monsters, and use the right weapon to break foot bones, puncture inflatable necks, and break down health bars until the monster stops budging. Notably, you’ll have plenty of time to decide how to deconstruct your prey without fear of them running off or slaughtering you mercilessly. Important disclaimer, though — even with the extra time on your side, they still might.

In combat, you control yourself and your monster, sharing hearts in the process, though you’ll often fight with compatriots from the Rangers team, too. Each member specialises in a type of support, with the adorable pink-haired Thea offering a higher critical hit rate with the caveat of lower defence, where the chiselled Gaul tends to heal up your party with his utility belt of items.

Picking a solid ally is extremely important to success, especially as you face more feral opponents down the line. While you’ll inevitably stumble along the way to finding your perfect match, the process is gratifying nonetheless, with failure never feeling too punishing.

As you can tell, I thoroughly enjoyed Twisted Reflections’ combat, and, beyond the expected elemental attacks, buffs, debuffs, and stamina bar to contend with, there is a standout feature here – the attack type system.

A carryover from the previous Monster Hunter Stories games, this system plays a lot like rock, paper, scissors, but instead of losing to a friend, your life is on the line. During a battle, you and your prey have a chance to target each other, leading to a nerve-racking head-to-head.

If you correctly guess the beast's type – between Power, Technical, and Speed – and deal the opposing damage type, you have a chance to boost your destructive power. However, if you lose, you’ll take more damage as a result. The more you fend off enemies, the more you’ll get a feel for countering attacks, which leads to a satisfying cycle that encourages you to take risks and bet on yourself.

Combat is more than just a means to an XP end, though, and you’ll also earn some handy monster parts which can be crafted into gear to fortify your stats. From a technical perspective, I found great joy in recycling guts and scales into bows and armour, with beloved monsters like the Chatacabra and Nerscylla reimagined into stylish defensive garb and weapons.

Perhaps the greatest aspect of this process, though, is that what you craft carries the visual markers of monster parts, too. Ergo, if you cook up the leftovers from a fight with a Kut Kut into gear, your fit will have a distinct orange-scaled look. There’s a lot to love about these hectic designs, particularly as the outfit you choose will show up in cutscenes, leading to some unintentionally hilarious interactions.

What’s most important, though, is that it provides you with a reason to go out and hunt specific creatures beyond story progression and XP alone, which is important as you glide towards the challenging late game.

Dragon Quest

Over the course of this expansive journey, you’ll venture into fresh biomes like jungles and deserts, sneaking peeks and battling against a wider variety of creatures. If you aren’t familiar with Monster Hunter, the series has always made an effort to ensure the eponymous monsters feel at home where you find them, and I’m happy to note that Twisted Reflection is no different.

Where the lakes and rivers of each biome house aquatic creatures like the salamander-esque Ludthroth or bulldog-faced Somnacanth, the plains feature packs of scrappy scavengers like the Velocidrome. These touches ensure the world has a lived-in feel, as if it existed long before you decided to drop in and start swinging your sword.

It’s clever that the creatures in your party are held to the same standard, and to reach the peaks and valleys of each area, you’ll have to switch between rides – your winged steed isn’t going to take a dip just because you want to collect some herbs. It’s a shame, then, that the platforming can be extremely hit-and-miss.

I lost count of how many times I fell off a solid edge, plummeting from tree stumps or slipping off a vertical cliff, only to have to scale whole mountains again. Invisible walls appear out of nowhere, too, swiftly taking you out of the fantasy. Given all the intentionally immersive features, it’s a shame that a game so geared toward exploration struggles to make the process fun in the long term.

Side quests appear periodically across the saga, bolstering the story by reminding you that, on top of the impending threat of crystallised super monsters, you have a duty as a ranger, too. The missions are fairly simple fetch quests for the most part, sending you off to find specific monster eggs or herbs with some cute moments peppered in.

Thankfully, there are more focused friendship quests to complete, too, that feel much more thoughtfully written and allow you to embed in Twisted Reflection’s world and build richer relationships with the other rangers in your squad. Here you’ll get to know Kora, the tough warrior with a harrowing history, and Ogden, a warm if not eccentric father figure within the group.

If you don’t complete them as they appear, the story's pacing goes off kilter a touch, and you’ll find yourself warped back to maps that you almost certainly shouldn’t be visiting in context to the story at large. Still, if you can suspend your disbelief, the stories are silly and heartwarming, bolstered by spirited vocal performances from the game’s cast.

Should you play Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection?

Play it if...

Don't play it if...

Accessibility features

You can access Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection’s settings anytime from the pause menu. There’s a Controller and Mouse and Keyboard submenu where you can rebind keys for traversal, battling, and cutscenes to suit your preferences. In the Options submenu is you can toggle font size for subtitles and adjust cutscene dialogue to display speaker names. You can also adjust your minimap to rotate with the camera's orientation or remain fixed.

Where objectives are concerned, you can tweak the quest marker to always be on and choose to have a caution icon appear when you approach monsters of a much higher level than you own. Those struggling in combat can also choose to have a hint message appear if they lose in certain battles.

How I reviewed Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection

We played Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection’s main campaign on PC for over fifty hours. During that time, we invested in the side quests, Ranger stories, and the habitat rehabilitation portion of the game, in addition to the main questline.

It was completed on a Lenovo Legion 5 Gen 10 (RTX 5070) with the internal speakers for audio. A mouse and keyboard were used intermittently, while the campaign was primarily played with an Xbox Wireless Controller.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed February-March 2026

If you're a God of War fan, you've likely noticed Sony's iconic, deity-destroying action series has been dominating the spotlight as of late. Following an announcement that the franchise's original trilogy is being remade, we got a first-look at Kratos and Atreus in Prime Video's upcoming live-action TV series adaptation.

But before a collective "Boy!" could be bellowed in celebration of all this news, we also got word that a new series' spin-off game is rumored to be in the works. Given that you'd need a Leviathan Axe to cut through all these recent reveals and rumors, you could be excused for overlooking God of War Sons of Sparta, a brand-new prequel entry that was shadow-dropped shortly after the Greek trilogy remake reveal.

A retro-flavored 2D action-platformer starring a teenage Kratos, Sons of Sparta is a far cry from what the franchise has previously delivered. Borrowing heavily from the Metroidvania genre, the smaller-scale game has also earned the ire of some players – including series' creator David Jaffe – who've been less than impressed by this fresh direction for the franchise.

But while the game never reaches the epic highs of its predecessors, I've mostly had a good time stabbing, puzzle-solving, and exploring the would-be god-slayer's early stomping grounds, especially when braving its land of Laconia on my PlayStation Portal.

A slow start, but stellar story

Admittedly, Sons of Sparta doesn't make a fantastic first impression. Its action is slow to start, and its early environments sport a muted tone that can come off a bit drab on a large display, like the 65" 4K TV I started my journey on.

The game's combat and world didn't immediately grab me, but its characters and narrative did. A collaboration between Sony Santa Monica Studio, who penned the story, and Mega Cat Studios, Sons of Sparta is cleverly framed as a tale adult Kratos – voiced by the protagonist's first performer, TC Carson – tells his young daughter Calliope.

Narration from the older Kratos, as well as some fun exchanges between him and his little girl, are peppered throughout the lengthy campaign. But the bulk of the storytelling is delivered by young Kratos and his brother Deimos. The siblings, who are enduring the agoge in hopes of becoming Spartan soldiers, are richly realized with top-notch writing and quality voice acting.

In fact, it's the brothers' engaging, evolving dynamic that drew me to revisit the game on my PlayStation Portal after all but abandoning it following a short session on my PS5 Pro. And I'm so glad I returned to it, as Sons of Sparta is not only a perfect fit for the portable platform, but investing more time in it allowed me to appreciate what it had to offer after its subpar start.

Combat that ultimately clicks

The game's combat, which feels a bit plodding in the opening hours, really finds its footing a few hours in. Kratos can't do a whole lot with his equipped sword and shield initially, but it's not long before your inventory is brimming with abilities, upgrades, and skills. The franchise's familiar red orbs, as well as other collected resources, can be invested in a variety of offensive and defensive skills, while a number of weapon attachments can be acquired and upgraded.

The gods also get in on the action, gifting Kratos with a number of cool tools – like a fire-spewing tree branch – that can combat baddies, assist with puzzle-solving, and open previously obstructed parts of the map.

Speaking of the game's sprawling navigational interface, viewing and using the tool on the Portal's 8-inch, rectangular display immediately struck me with a satisfying sense of nostalgia. Having spent my youth studying maps in Metroid and Castlevania entries – as well as other classic side-scrollers – on Nintendo's many handhelds and Sony's own PlayStation Portable and Vita, it was a blast witnessing Sons of Sparta's map blossom in all directions on the more diminutive screen.

Playing with PlayStation Portal Power

But playing on the Portal did more than recall my favorite map-navigating memories. The prequel's painterly, hand-drawn pixel art style really pops on the portable hardware's 1080p HD display. Where the game felt a bit small and swallowed up by my TV's 65" screen, its varied, vibrant environments arguably presented much better on the smaller LED screen.

Of course, the innate intimacy of playing on a portable platform also deserves credit for putting the game in its best light; I was able to appreciate far more detail playing Sons of Sparta a few inches from my face rather than squinting at it from across my living room.

It also doesn't hurt that the Portal's handgrips deliver the same immersion-ratcheting features as the PS5's DualSense Wireless Controller. From feeling the rhythmic cadence of Kratos readying his Solar Sling – another fun gift from the gods – to the intense, sustained pulse that builds when opening a treasure chest, the handheld's haptic feedback and adaptive triggers are easily on par with the standard DualSense controller.

And speaking again to that more intimate portable experience, seeing Sons of Sparta's action unfold directly between those rumbling, vibrating handgrips adds a level of immersion and immediacy that playing on a console just can't match.

Godlike audio

I further complemented my time behind Kratos' spear and shield by pairing Sony's PlayStation Pulse Elite headset with the Portal. As expected, this allowed me to absorb every detail of the game's dynamic soundscape, from ear-rattling boss encounters to the nuanced echo of water dripping in the game's atmospheric Grand Cistern environment.

Sons of Sparta is undoubtedly a smaller-scale entry in a series known for making big, bold, blood-soaked splashes with each release. But while the stakes of its story are lower, and it lacks some of the epic set pieces, cinema-rivaling effects, and adrenaline-pumping action of its predecessors, it still delivers a solid, albeit quite different, God of War action-adventure.

If you're expecting a 2D take on Kratos' previous god-slaying exploits, Sons of Sparta will likely disappoint. But if you're craving a fresh, canon story supported by a serviceable metroidvania structure, deep combat, and plenty of fan-pleasing call-outs to the larger franchise, this unconventional prequel's got you covered…especially when enjoyed on the PlayStation Portal.

Should you play God of War Sons of Sparta?

Play it if...

Don't play it if...

Accessibility features

God of War Sons of Sparta includes an impressive suite of accessibility features, from various audio adjustments and visuals assists – including options for customizing color filters, text sizes, and blood and gore effects – to motion reduction aids and gameplay settings for decreasing difficulty.

In addition to including a number of presets for accessibility features, the game also offers plenty of individual selections for a more tailored experience.

How I reviewed God of War Sons of Sparta

I played a few hours of God of War Sons of Sparta on my PlayStation 5 Pro, on my 65" 4K display, before fully committing to it – and enjoying it much more – on my PlayStation Portal, streamed from the Pro.

I tested Sons of Sparta's audio with both the PlayStation Pulse Explore earbuds and PlayStation Pulse Elite headset, with the bulk of my 25-hour playtime using the latter. I paid particular attention to how the game looked and played on the portable device versus the console, and noted the various ways it incorporated the handheld's DualSense features.

First reviewed February-March 2026

My favorite thing about WWE 2K26 is a relatively minor feature. At the start of every match, you get the choice of what actions your character will take. Do you bumrush your opponent and try to knock them down out of the gate? Do you go in for a staredown or a handshake? Or do you hang back and play to the crowd? Yearly sports games don't tend to feature massive overhauls, but this implementation of a little bit of psychology shows me that deep down, Visual Concepts gets it.

Since returning with WWE 2K22, these games have gotten steadily better with each release, and WWE 2K26 is no different. The grappling feels better thanks to the aforementioned change and an updated stamina system that forces you to play tactically; the roster is huge, and the updated match types are mostly winners. But as is the tale with the WWE 2K series, its improvements are undercut by what feels like new ways to make money.

Hotdogging and grandstanding

One major change to WWE 2K26 is the absence of the traditional "buy a pack, get x wrestlers" DLC model. This year introduces the ringside pass, of which there will be 6 across the entire year. There's also a free route, which is how you unlock WWE Legends this year as opposed to previous years, where there was an in-game shop or unlock-everything DLC to grab. I don't blindly hate battle passes in games, but in 30 hours of playing WWE 2K26, I've barely hit the halfway point of the first pass.

Sure, there are ways to gain levels faster, such as your MyRise playthrough or Showcase mode – the latter of which is one-and-done – while the quickest ways seem to be through The Island and MyFaction, two modes that are playable without spending a penny but far easier for those who do invest. Paired with the ability to buy level skips, it feels like a rough trade from simply getting the characters you pay for – especially when there are still characters locked to MyFaction card drops through random number generating (RNG) on top of that. And while you can complete these battle passes at any time across the year, you can only work towards one at a time, meaning anyone who isn't playing consistently from day one will get left behind.

This is paired with another symptom of the yearly sports release, that some things just don't get touched. Aside from the ability to book intergender matches, MyGM – which should be my favorite mode as someone who was begging for a booker mode in these games from 2008-2022 – remains practically unchanged from WWE 2K25, and thus my same issues persist (namely, the super restrictive class and alignment systems).

Best in the World

The highlight of this year's modes is 2K Showcase – the yearly mode focusing on a story, be that of a wrestler, a family, or a show in which you play recreations of classic matches – with this year's focusing on cover star CM Punk. While there are some notable omissions from the mode, like the absence of Jeff Hardy, Chris Jericho, and Daniel Bryan from WWE, stopping those feuds from being included, it's a lengthy selection that covers the bases.

Punk notably had a very public falling out with WWE in 2014 before returning in 2023, and part of this year's Showcase is imagining what would happen if he didn't leave. These include the likes of his planned showdown with Triple H at Wrestlemania 30, taking on AJ Styles at his first Wrestlemania, and fighting Bray Wyatt as The Fiend. These are the absolute highlights of this mode and made me wish deep down we could've seen them happen in real life.

I typically prefer MyRise – a storyline featuring a created character – most years, but sadly, I'm a bit let down by this year's edition. Don't get me wrong, The Comeback and the story of The Archetype is one of the best stories told in the series to date, but you can feel the budget ripped out of this mode as you play.

As opposed to the separate men's and women's division stories of previous years, it's pretty much the exact same story across both, with recurring dialogue and events, just with women instead of men in roles. And like last year, side quests are gone entirely; instead, you play Rise matches, which are simple exhibition matches against wrestlers to earn stars. These are fine as a side thing to buff your character, but you're forced to play them between pretty much every main storyline, and it feels like tedious, artificial padding.

Boy Stable

After hating it last year (I called it "a superfluous mode that feels focused on money"), The Island returns this year, and shockingly, it feels a lot more interesting. Instead of still images and text, the mode features actual cutscenes this year, making it feel like an extension of MyRise in ways.

But once again, you create a new character for The Island, and this character’s stats are upgraded via VC – the game’s premium paid currency, which can also be earned in-game. So if you want to play one of the mode's towers, which challenge you to play a gauntlet of matches on one health bar, you're going to have a far rougher time with your base stats. Plus, you can battle other players online on The Island, and I don't need to tell you that the person who spends money will have a better time.

But ultimately, I think, why would I want to spend money on this? I received a review code for the Monday Night Wars Edition of the game, which comes with a substantial amount of VC anyway, but I still feel like I'm wasting it to buff up a character I frankly don't care about. And given MyRise has gotten smaller both years The Island has been included, I can't say I'm a fan of this tradeoff from one of my favorite modes to one I can't see myself thinking about too often.

I'd much rather save the VC for MyFaction – the game's Ultimate Team equivalent. But not because I'm madly into MyFaction, but because exclusive versions of superstars are often locked behind this mode's RNG. Do you want Drew McIntyre's 2010 version with his fantastic theme song? Better hope you get him. What about Booker T's iconic King Booker gimmick? Well, you're going to need to get five Oddities cards, which are random drops. Plus, you straight up can't play certain missions or challenges without having access to certain cards, so get spending, I guess.

WWE 2K26 continues the series tradition of frustrating me with every entry. There's a fantastic wrestling game in there; the roster is great, the showcase is an excellent piece of throwback and fantasy about one of the best wrestlers of all time, and MyRise continues to be a fun story despite feeling majorly cut back. But the Ringside Pass is another red flag on top of the existing red flags of previous years and something that will need to be significantly tweaked for me to consider it a suitable replacement for the previous method.

Should you play WWE 2K26?

Play it if...

Don't play it if...

Accessibility features

WWE 2K26's accessibility features are mainly focused around mini-games. You can change the timing-based pinfall minigame to a rapid press motion if you please, or change the rapid press submission game to a slider, alongside the option to include held inputs for both, but these won't be changed for any online modes. Outside of that, there's not much to write home about, with four difficulty options and manual AI sliders. However, there are no options for colorblindness, unfortunately.

How I reviewed WWE 2K26

I played 30 hours of WWE 2K26 on PS5 Pro using a DualSense Wireless Controller, and an LG C5 OLED TV with its built-in sound.

During this time, I played all of Showcase mode, a Babyface men's division run of MyRise, and the first few chapters of a Heel women's division run. I played a few months of My GM and Universe mode, a few chapters of The Island, and about four hours of MyFaction – mostly the towers. I also played a good few regular matches along the way.

First reviewed February-March 2026

When celebrating the 40th anniversary of Super Mario, I expected something more substantial for gaming's most iconic character than Mario Tennis Fever. But even if it's not a brand-spanking new platformer, the ridiculous success of Mario Kart 8 means it would be unwise to dismiss a Mario spin-off.

Mario sports spin-offs have always been a fun arcade sports alternative to the more serious simulations. But Fever feels like it takes the most inspiration from Mario Kart, while retaining the solid tennis mechanics of its predecessors to make for a more fulsome Nintendo Switch 2 game.

It also does the opposite of what Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash back on the Wii U failed to do, and that's layering these mechanics with a wide variety of content, whether that's different modes and challenges or just having a large roster of characters and fever rackets to unlock so that you can mix up and experiment with the combinations to keep the gameplay feeling fresh.

But with Mario fans having to make do with re-releases like Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2, and the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 edition of Super Mario Bros. Wonder, is Mario Tennis Fever going to be enough to satisfy those hankering for a truly new Mario title?

Courting with content

As the first new Mario game for the Switch 2 since launch title Mario Kart World, Fever makes less of a strong case than the faux-pen world racer as an exclusive for Nintendo's new hardware.

Apart from the motion controls of Swing mode previously included in its Switch 1 predecessor, there's a lack of any hardware gimmicks or technical grunt. The most clear difference from previous instalments is that Fever gives more bang for your buck - as it should, being the most expensive Mario Tennis title to date.

The main menu is packed with different modes to play, and sometimes breaks down into further modes. For instance, Ring Shot from Mario Tennis Aces returns, but this time just as one of many other modes under Mix it Up. Here, even more unusual rules come into play, which are also linked to the themed court you're playing in.

For example, one court is designed like a pinball machine where you and the ball can get bounced off pinball bumpers that pop up from the ground or the side, while another is themed after Super Mario Bros. Wonder, where hitting a Wonder Flower causes random things to happen.

This does, however, mean the annoying Talking Flower is a character here, and actually serves as the commentator. You'll also find that even though there's an option to turn off commentary, there will still be times when you can't shut him up.

If you're after something more traditional, Tournament mode offers different tiers of difficulty playable in singles and doubles. A more unconventional challenge, however, is Trial Towers, where you have to complete a run of pre-set challenges with just three lives, progress resetting once you've failed three times.

What makes these trials fun is that each challenge has its own conditions, and also gives you a different character to play as, a good way to force you to mix things up if you're usually only sticking with one or two characters.

That choice of how and who to play is arguably one of Fever's strengths, with a total roster of 36 characters to unlock, more if you take into account the different colour options of several characters, such as Yoshi. There's a nice sense of progression that you'll always be unlocking something new, be it a new character, court, or difficulty mode, especially as some of these come from just playing a set number of matches.

So even if you eat dirt in an online match, you can at least console yourself that it counts towards your goal of unlocking something else. Any piece of grayed-out content will also tell you what you need to achieve to unlock it, which helps with working towards ticking off your achievements.

Fever dream

Adding to that variety is, of course, the introduction of Fever Rackets. The best way of describing it is basically if you put Mario Kart-style items into a tennis match. Once you fill up your Fever gauge, you can activate this on the next returning ball, while having a short window to aim where in the court for it to go, and create all sorts of shenanigans on the court for your opponent.

Flame Racket, for example, scatters flames around where the ball lands, but this is also different from the Fire Bar racket, which creates one of those iconic spinning fire bars on the ground. Then there are rackets that give you an advantage, like having a shadow double running away to return shots for you, or another where you instantly dash to impossible lengths to catch a returning shot.

While these rackets can disrupt and even cause damage to an opponent, they're also not meant to be an ace. Where Mario Tennis Aces could let you win a match by breaking an opponent's racket, a KO isn't an instant forfeit in Fever. It's also possible to counter fever shots by returning the ball before it lands on the ground, meaning you can return a fever racket's effects back to the other player, potentially building up a tense rally with the knowledge that the loser is going to have the disadvantage of mud, slippery ice, or worse to stick out at least the next point.

If you'd rather not do with the gimmicks, then you can also just play classic tennis, where in the ranked online mode, you can choose between singles and doubles modes with or without fever rackets, while on the other extreme, Free Play or custom online lobbies gives you the option to pick two fever rackets in a match then swap between them before a serve so you can change up tactics.

Where fever shots feel underutilised is in the game's Adventure mode, which is also on the short side, even though it has some lovely presentation, including several of the best-looking cinematics in a Mario game since Luigi's Mansion 3.

Even the premise, which finds Mario, Luigi, and Peach (as well as the no-good Wario and Waluigi) turning into babies, is a fun idea that also justifies having to train Baby Mario back to his prime through a role-playing game-style levelling system.

Unfortunately, this also means much of the campaign is a glorified tutorial where you're being taught (and occasionally quizzed) by multiple Toads in every aspect of tennis, with the fever mechanics reduced more to aiming at an enemy weak spot. While there are some well-designed minigames in this section, which can also be replayed on higher difficulties, it's deflating to discover that the adventure proper will have you racing through its world map in and the whole campaign over in about 4 hours.

It's not without some highlights, though if you've already dipped into some of the other modes, there'll also be a touch of deja vu in some of the challenges encountered. The consolation is that there is at least plenty more for you to do in Fever, even if you've rolled credits in Adventure mode.

Should you play Mario Tennis Fever?

Play it if...

Don't play it if...

Accessibility features

Mario Tennis Fever doesn't have accessibility settings specifically, but its settings do allow for adjustments, such as performing moves like lobs and drop shots as one-button inputs, which you can assign to the bumpers or triggers. The camera position can also be adjusted between standard and raised perspectives, and you can also set which racket hand your character is using in both button and swing modes.

How I reviewed Mario Tennis Fever

I played Mario Tennis Fever for about 15 hours on Nintendo Switch 2, which included completing Adventure mode and unlocking a substantial amount of content over 100 matches across different modes. This also included playing some local and online multiplayer matches, but not its Game Share functionality.

I played primarily in docked mode on an LG C2 OLED TV with the default TV speakers. I played mostly with a Switch 2 Pro Controller, but also tested it in handheld mode, as well as the Joy-Con 2 for swing mode.

First reviewed February 2026

Yakuza Kiwami 3 is a remake of what is perhaps the most divisive game in Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio’s Like A Dragon franchise. It comes with overhauled graphics, refreshed combat, a more fleshed-out narrative, and, of course, a new separate story – dubbed Dark Ties – which follows the path of antagonist Yoshitaka Mine.

Having recently gone back to the Yakuza 3 Remastered on PlayStation 4, I can say that Kiwami 3 is a very comprehensive remake, and changes to its visuals, combat, and story certainly feel striking.

But are all of these changes for the better? Does this remake continue the high standard that RGG Studio set with the first 2 Kiwami games? Well, the answer to those questions may not be particularly straightforward.

A Dragon reborn

Let’s start by discussing the main game: Yakuza Kiwami 3. This follows the story of Kazuma Kiryu – also known as the Dragon of Dojima – a former Yakuza and Tojo Clan Chairman. Following the events of Kiwami 2, Kiryu decides to run an orphanage on the island of Okinawa. But it doesn’t take long before he’s embroiled in yet more drama.

His orphanage is under threat, due to it being situated on land that's needed for a government-backed resort plan. The new Tojo Clan chairman is shot by a mysterious figure. And a succession dispute is erupting among the Tojo family patriarchs. The narrative is still gripping, although this revisit does make a couple of changes.

As some fans may already know, there’s been a shake-up to the finale, which is undoubtedly going to ruffle some feathers. I won’t go into details, but in my view, this change isn’t executed very well. It takes some of the emotion and impact away from the original Yakuza 3, causing the game to fall short of the very best RPGs, narrative-wise.

Something else that may reduce the impact of the narrative is the newly added English voice acting. I know I’m far from the only one who’s said this, but some of the English voices are poor, especially that of Kiryu himself. There’s a lack of maturity and gruffness to the protagonist’s voice, meaning his iconic personality doesn’t shine through. As a result, I played through the game in Japanese.

Still, a lot of the other adjustments feel largely positive. For instance, combat feels far better than it did in the original. The new Ryukyu style – which is inspired by Okinawan weapon arts – is brutal and optimized for wiping out swathes of enemies at once. There’s a wide variety of weapons that Kiryu can use in this style, and learning new combos makes it truly devastating.

The Dragon of Dojima style feels excellent too, and perfectly personifies the classic brawler combat Kiryu is known for. You can learn new abilities, including heat action finishers and grabbing techniques – usually, you’ll have to use points earned in battle to do so. Other aspects, like health and strength enhancements, require you to use cash instead. In my opinion, this feels more streamlined and polished than the original upgrade system, and I really enjoyed enhancing my build as the game progressed.

Just generally, combat feels more refined in Kiwami 3. The issue of enemies continually blocking has been significantly improved, battles feel a bit faster-paced, and Kiryu’s movement feels more fluid. I did find that the game was considerably easier than other Yakuza games – at least playing on standard difficulty. As a result, I reduced my use of healing items in battle – but you can select a harder difficulty option instead, if you’d prefer a greater challenge.

Another significant addition is the Lalala Phone, which you can customize to improve Kiryu’s abilities – or just for aesthetic reasons. This is surprisingly fun and provides a real throwback to the late noughties. You can also add friends in Tokyo or Okinawa, and eventually unlock rewards for doing so, giving an actual incentive to use your phone. This has seemingly replaced the original’s Revelations feature, though, which was a source of quirky and often funny cutscenes.

But before I move on to Dark Ties, I want to talk about two other major changes – one that I loved, and one that I was less hot on.

I’ll start with the good: Life At Morning Glory. Here, you can complete a bunch of mini-games, like helping the children with homework, sewing, harvesting crops, and fishing. I was absolutely addicted to these – especially the latter two, as they’re necessary for cooking meals requested by the kids. Cooking is a blast, and it’s really wholesome watching Kiryu bond with the orphans over food. More generally, you see so much more of Kiryu’s relationship with the children in this remake – and although he may be a punch-first, ask-questions-later kind of guy, you get a window into the softer, more sensitive side of him, which is a joy to watch.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t in love with the other major addition, Bad Boy Dragon. In this story, Kiryu becomes chairman of the Haisai Girls and supports them in their aim to protect Okinawa, crush the oppressive Tokyo Night Terrors, and become Japan’s leading girl gang. You’ll fight in turf wars and large-scale battles in order to achieve all of this, and frequently recruit new members along the way.

Personally, I found this part of the adventure to be a little tedious. Fighting in turf wars feels same-y after a little while, and the trope of helping a group of underdogs win against the odds – as seen with Four Shine in Yakuza Kiwami 2 and Real Estate Royale in Yakuza 0 – just felt a little uninspired. The environments you battle through also lack differentiation, making this part of Kiryu’s campaign less compelling than others.

Enter the underworld

Kiwami 3 definitely adds a lot of good stuff, but not all of its additions work out for the best. But my suspicion is that a lot of players – especially returning fans – will be more interested in the Dark Ties content, which follows Tojo Clan newbie Yoshitaka Mine. Here, you uncover the origins of Mine’s Yakuza career, explore his relationship with the brutish Tsuyoshi Kanda, and explore his desire to learn about genuine human bonds.

This is a shorter style of game, with just three chapters. Dark Ties clocked in at under 8 hours for me after I completed the story, as well as a healthy dollop of side-content. But there’s still plenty of fun to be had.

Firstly, I want to talk about combat. We already gushed about Mine’s moves in our Dark Ties preview, and for good reason. Mine’s shootboxing style is truly vicious and brilliantly reflects his character – especially when you’re using the souped-up Dark Awakening mechanic. But even his normal moveset – made up of Intense knee smashes, rapid-fire jabs, and acrobatic grabs – makes Mine’s new campaign a blast to blitz through. Seriously, I even found myself enjoying random encounters with street thugs.

I really took a shine to Kanda Damage Control as well. This sees Mine attempt to boost the reputation of his aniki, Kanda – a man who I’d describe as a disgusting pig if I were feeling generous. In order to do this, Mine has to do good deeds around Kamurocho – after which he always claims to be Kanda himself. It never gets old, honestly. These often involve high-octane battles, but sometimes descend into the typical wackiness that Yakuza is loved for. I spent a lot of time with this, and plan to max out Kanda’s rank in the coming days for sure.

But it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. Because the other major part of the game – Hell’s Arena – did not do it for me at all. This is basically a dungeon crawler where you have to avoid death, loot treasure chests, and destroy your enemies with the help of various mercenaries and weapons. In a similar vein to Bad Boy Dragon, the dungeon-crawling in Hell’s Arena can feel tedious, and the setting didn’t feel varied or interesting enough to draw me back in.

Story-telling is pretty good throughout Dark Ties, though. Mine is fixated on Tojo Clan Chairman, Daigo Dojima, and the way that the latter’s men will risk their very lives in order to save their boss. I was engaged with Mine’s pursuit of human connection, his conflicting relationship with Kanda, and his rise through the Tojo Clan, ensuring that Dark Ties felt like a worthwhile addition overall.

The Dragon and the Kirin

We’ve spoken in depth about Yakuza Kiwami 3 as well as Dark Ties now, but it’s time to bring them together and look at the package as a whole.

Now, something that has whipped up a lot of discussion online is the graphical quality of the game – especially with regards to Kiwami 3. An update was released during my review, intended to fix “a lighting issue” and “other quality concerns”. This will be available for all players at launch.

Using version 1.11 of the game, I didn’t have some of the lighting issues encountered by other players, and with HDR active and a few tweaks, I had Kiwami 3 looking pretty solid. RGG Studios’ attempt at ‘tropical lighting’ can make some in-game elements appear oversaturated, though. Some street signs, for instance, looked almost too bright, creating quite the contrast against the original’s grittier color palette.

Just generally, I wasn’t bowled over by the visuals across both campaigns, actually. Some of the in-game textures – stuff like cars and walls, say – just look a bit dated, and lacked the sharpness I’d expect from a 2026 release. Sure, you’re still getting an upgrade overall from the remaster of Yakuza 3, and the game’s visuals aren’t ugly or anything – they’re just not especially impressive.

But back to the good stuff. I was really pleased with the performance of Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties on PlayStation 5. With 4K visuals and a smooth framerate, you can expect pretty seamless gameplay with very few hiccups.

I was also loving the soundtrack once again. Yakuza always brings together an eclectic mix of aggressive battle music, smooth jazz, and upbeat tracks to suit every mood or setting, and Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties is no different. You can even listen to tunes from other Sega titles, like Rhythm Thief & The Emperor’s Treasure, Persona 3 Reload, and Metaphor: ReFantazio using Kiryu or Mine’s phone, which I adored.

But now I want to return to the questions that I posed at the beginning. Are all of the changes made in Yakuza Kiwami 3 for the better? Well, the short answer is no. On the whole, you’re getting an improved experience, with better combat, a shiny new battle style, and boatloads of new content. However, changes to the finale and the slightly tedious Bad Boy Dragon side-story felt less positive.

Does Kiwami 3 maintain the high standards set by its remade predecessors? On the whole, yes. The more streamlined upgrade system, good performance, and quality of life adjustments are most welcome. But I think RGG Studio could’ve made a more visually impressive game. A few other choices – like redesigning a major character named Rikiya and removing Revelations – may also upset some hardcore fans.

With that said, I was a fan of Dark Ties overall, in spite of a couple of flaws. I wouldn’t say that this helps to propel the overall package to the dizzying heights that other entries in the series have reached, though. And ultimately, I feel that Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties sit in the ‘good category’, rather than the ‘great’ one.

Should you play Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties?:

Play it if...

Don't play it if...

Accessibility features

There’s a pretty comprehensive set of accessibility features to explore in Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties. You can set auto quick-time events, swap the left and right sticks, choose between rapid or hold button controls, and customize the camera to your liking. You can also alter subtitle language and text size, map controls to different buttons, and utilize color vision assistance.

How I reviewed Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties:

For this review, I spent more than 50 hours playing through Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties. During this time, I rolled credits on both Kiryu's and Mine’s campaigns, defeated all of the reapers, and completed the Life At Morning Glory and Bad Boy Dragon storylines.

I played the PS5 version of Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties on my Sky Glass Gen 2 TV, which is connected to a Marshall Heston 120 soundbar. On occasion, I dipped into the Yakuza 3 remaster in order to compare performance, graphics, and gameplay.

I’m a long-time fan of the Yakuza series, and recently reviewed the Nintendo Switch 2 versions of Yakuza Kiwami and Yakuza Kiwami 2. More generally, I’m a massive JRPG fan, and have written about titles such as Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake, Raidou Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army, and Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter.

First reviewed February 2026