PERSONA 3 RELOAD

PLATFORM: XBOX ONE/SERIES, PS4/5 (REVIEWED) | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

For decades, Atlus has been one of the top RPG developers in the gaming industry, with 2006’s classic Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 being one of the company’s most iconic titles. So now in 2024, this legendary title finally has the remake treatment with Persona 3 Reload. But is it worth the price of re-admission to the group known as SEES?

The simple and quick answer is absolutely YES. This is the quintessential version of this timeless story for new and old fans alike. The themes of death, courage and friendship that are explored in the narrative are beautifully realised with a crisp and 4k visual overhaul, with the characters, personas, enemies and environments looking the best in the series. Adding new activities, such as cooking, and extra social links that are all fully voiced and animated adds a breath of fresh air, meaning there is so much more to explore, even if you have played the original countless times. The new voice cast does an incredible job in bringing these characters to life once again, and the subtle but meaningful changes to quality of life, the combat, and fluidity of progression make this a definitive JRPG for all skill levels and appreciation for this sub-genre of gaming that is so important.

Whether you have played a Persona game before, or if this is your first venture into the crazy world of Persona, Persona 3 Reload is a must-play for fans of video games in general, with bucketloads of content and plenty of replayability. No matter your experience with RPGs or Japanese culture, there is so much to love and adore in this title – get it in your collection now!

stars

PERSONA 3 RELOAD is out now

SUICIDE SQUAD: KILL THE JUSTICE LEAGUE

PLATFORM: PC, PS5, XBOX SERIES (REVIEWED) | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Five years after the events of Batman: Arkham Knight, DC supervillains Harley Quinn, Boomerang, Deadshot and King Shark have been brought under control thanks to explosive devices that have been implanted in their heads. Facing off against Superman, Batman (in Kevin Conroy’s penultimate appearance in the role), Green Lantern and The Flash, all of whom have been corrupted by Brainiac, the Suicide Squad band together as part of Amanda Waller’s Task Force X to embark on a quest to take down the Justice League once and for all.

From the developers of the near-flawless (and undeniably influential) Arkham series of games, Rocksteady, high expectations were placed on Kill The Justice League as soon as the game was first revealed. However, this is a different kind of game entirely – intended to be played online with other people, this is a “live service” multiplayer offering that leans more towards games like Destiny, Anthem and Outriders than the single-player adventures that the developer has become known for.

Playing like a cross between Crackdown and Borderlands with maybe a bit of 2014’s underappreciated Sunset Overdrive thrown in, each of the four playable characters can be swapped between at almost any time (unless they’re currently under the control of another human player), and each has their own unique abilities and weaponry. Harley Quinn, for example, uses a grapple gun and bat drone to swing across the city and favours SMGs, pistols and heavy weapons to dispatch her foes, while Boomshot relies on a jetpack to soar through the sky and a pair of rifles (of the sniper and assault variety) to keep enemies at bay. All four characters control well and are great fun to use, although a couple of the traversal mechanics are a bit more fiddly than the others.

When it comes to shooting things, though, Suicide Squad really comes into its own. Combat is fast-paced and extremely satisfying, and you’re given plenty of ways to approach each encounter. There are guns, of course, but also grenades, melee attacks, a couple of special moves, and an “affliction attack” that pretty much does what the name suggests. Each weapon has its own stats and perks that dictate its effects, encouraging players to experiment with different loadouts. Along with this, each character levels up independently, allowing you to choose your favourite squad member then focus on enhancing their abilities to create your perfect build. Alternatively, solo players could spend time swapping between all four characters, equipping each one with different skills and abilities to give you a wider array of offensive options. However, all four characters’ skill trees are almost identical to each other, with only a handful of abilities related to each individual character’s unique skills, so whichever squad member you choose to play as, your options always feel slightly restrained.

This slightly underwhelming feeling, unfortunately, extends to the story campaign’s missions, which doesn’t offer much variety at all. You’ll always be either defending something, escorting something, or going to find something and taking it somewhere else, while blasting waves of enemies along the way. Despite the undeniably excellent gunplay, the uninspired missions and general emptiness of Metropolis mean that, when playing solo, the whole thing can feel quite flat and soulless. Bringing a few real-life friends in helps to perk things up considerably, but a wider variety objectives would make the most noticeable difference.

The campaign lasts for around 10-12 hours, after which you’re into the much-hyped “endgame”. At the time of launch, though, this endgame doesn’t offer much that you haven’t seen during the main campaign. There are unique pieces of gear to work towards, based around “villain synergies” where pieces of gear from different DC supervillains combine to create super-powerful effects, and enemies gain modifiers as your Mastery rank increases, changing the way that you approach each encounter, but apart from an additional objective that asks you to survive for as long as possible by killing increasingly strong enemies to earn extra time (think Resident Evil‘s “Mercenaries” mode), you’ll be repeating the same handful of mission types that may well have already outstayed their welcome during the story.

In its current state, Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League is a bit of an odd proposition. The combat is excellent and the cutscenes and voice acting are first class, but the shallow pool of available mission types doesn’t make for the most enticing endgame. Promises have been made by the developer to support the game with updates, additional characters and new missions over the next couple of years but, for now, only time will tell if the game will overcome its sparse beginnings and reach its full potential.

 

stars

LIKE A DRAGON: INFINITE WEALTH

PLATFORM: PC, PS4, PS5, XBOX ONE, XBOX SERIES (REVIEWED) | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

After building a new life for himself and his crew throughout 2020’s Yakuza: Like A Dragon, Ichiban Kasuga is now employed by Happy Work, a job agency that allows him to find work for ex-yakuza members who would otherwise be left out on the streets following the dissolution of Yokohama’s two biggest clans, a break-up that Kasuga himself was heavily involved with. Things don’t quite go to plan and the former yakuza band together under a new clan, but Kasuga and his pals find themselves with more pressing issues; locating Kasuga’s biological mother, long presumed dead but now apparently live and well in Hawaii. Ichiban isn’t the only person looking for her, though – faced with a terminal illness, former series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu is undertaking a mission on behalf of the Daidoji faction, making the most of what little time he has left, and his target just so happens to live in Honolulu… With one on his way up and the other on his way out, Kasuga and Kiryu’s paths cross in this genuinely epic tale, the biggest Yakuza game so far and considered by developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio to be their magnum opus.

Everything you do in Infinite Wealth has an effect on some sort of meter or metrics, with your actions resulting in various stats being increased and in turn rewarding you with all manner of perks. Something as simple as talking to a stranger in the street can raise your kindness level, and spending time with your friends can eventually bestow you with tag team skills and combo attacks to use in battle. Partaking in extracurricular activities might give you cash, useful items, equipment, new friends or any number of other surprises. There’s a huge variety of wacky distractions, like a Pokemon Snap-style minigame called “Sicko Snap” where you ride around on a bus taking photos of lycra-clad hunks, the Crazy Taxi-esque “Crazy Delivery” which tasks you with collecting food and delivering it as quickly as possible, plus the usual series staples like karaoke, darts, arcades, and scantily-clad ladies… There are dozens – perhaps even hundreds – of things that can affect the way your team grows, making it feel like you’re constantly getting stronger throughout the entire game (and beyond).

Building on the Pokemon-style “Sujimon” sub-game from 2020’s Like A Dragon, Infinite Wealth allows you to become a full-on Sujimon master by catching, training, evolving and battling your Sujimon against other trainers. You can even take part in raids to acquire rare Sujimon to help you reach the top of the league. Elsewhere, there’s a similarly deep homage to Animal Crossing / Stardew Valley; Dondoko Island is being used as a dumping ground by a nefarious corporation, but – if you want to – you can clean up the island and use the parts you find to make furniture, decorations and buildings to attract visitors and restore the island to its former glory. Both of these distractions are so full of features that they could almost pass for full games in themselves – if you’re into either of the games that they’re based on, these will add dozens of hours to your playthrough.

Infinite Wealth sticks with the previous instalment’s turn-based combat, but increases the amount of options you’re given during battles to make things more interesting. Not content with making you simply stand still and choose your actions from a list, you’re allowed to move around to line up attacks, knock enemies into each other, set up combos by moving yourself and your party into position, grab nearby objects and throw them at enemies, use a mind-boggling array of items to beef up your offence and defense, and utilise a well-stocked arsenal of over-the-top special moves that just wouldn’t be possible with real-time combat. Poundmates return, giving you the ability to summon assistance from a bevvy of fabulously quirky NPCs, and your party gains all manner of fantastical skills and abilities as each character levels up. Party members can also now change their assigned job, changing the skills that are available to them – a cab driver can throw tyres and use a car battery to electrocute enemies, but change his job to an aquanaut and he’ll suddenly be equipped with a surfboard that he uses to batter foes into submission. The story and cutscenes might be rather serious in tone, but the series’ signature silliness is definitely very much present and correct.

Acting as a lap of honour for an old friend as well as a true coronation for the series’ new number one, Infinite Wealth‘s story will have much more impact on those who are familiar with the events of previous Yakuza / Like A Dragon games – it’s a tremendous RPG in its own right, but newcomers might be advised to at least play 2020’s instalment (and probably also 2023’s The Man Who Erased His Name) before venturing into this one. If you’ve been following the series from the start, it’s an absolute no brainer – Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth hits all the right marks and leaves very little room for complaints. A truly exceptional piece of work!

 

stars

PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE LOST CROWN

PLATFORM: PC, PS4/5, SWITCH, XBOX ONE/SERIES (REVIEWED) | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Reviving a series that was last seen on consoles since 2010, The Lost Crown takes us back to Prince of Persia‘s side-scrolling roots with this 2D platformer that follows the adventures of Sargon, a young warrior tasked with rescuing a Prince from the summit of a cursed mountain. With its original story based on Persian mythology, eye-catching visuals and smooth Metroidvania-infused gameplay, The Lost Crown sits confidently amongst the best entries in the series while forging its own unique identity.

Using a range of powers and abilities that steadily become available as the game progresses, you’ll need to guide Sargon around a labyrinthine map full of traps, puzzles, and countless enemies. All of the usual tools are here, such as the ubiquitous double jump and air dash, alongside more novel gimmicks like the ability to create a ghost that can be immediately teleported towards, and a handy device that makes certain platforms appear and disappear at the touch of a button. Many paths along your journey will be locked until Sargon acquires certain abilities, but backtracking to previous areas will always reward you with amulets that can be equipped to gain handy passive effects, or crystals that can be spent on buying maps, healing items, or upgrading your weapons.

The Lost Crown might not bring a huge amount of new ideas to the table, although the ability to add a screenshot to your map, to remind you exactly what you were stuck on, is a fantastic idea, and the inclusion of a wide range of accessibility options makes the game suitable for all ages and abilities. TLC does an incredible job of making every single moment feel incredibly satisfying, whether that’s solving a tricky puzzle, slashing away at enemies, overcoming a boss fight or using your powers to complete an intricate platforming section, making it an easy recommendation for fans of action platformers.

 

stars

THE LAST OF US PART II REMASTERED

PLATFORM: PS5 | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

At the time of its release in 2020, TLOU2 earned universal critical acclaim for its well-rounded characters, exceptionally strong performances, first-class world-building, stunning visuals and incredible audio design, although its narrative was less well-received by the general public. Is this a masterfully-crafted revenge story full of complex characters with justifiable motives, or do a multitude of questionable decisions mean that we’re given precious few reasons to care about a generally miserable cast? As divisive as the debate may be, you’ll definitely feel something, one way or the other.

While it might seem a bit too soon for a remaster, there’s a noticeable leap in visual quality between the PS4 original and the upgraded PS5 edition. Native 4K performance, improved framerates, increased level of detail in distant scenery, higher textures and a host of other tweaks mean that TLOU2’s undeniably beautiful world (in stark contrast with the violent, brutal and borderline depressing events that happen within it) is more immersive than before. This isn’t just a visual upgrade, though – a couple of other additions bolster the overall package in some unexpected and very welcome ways.

A post-game roguelike mode challenges players to step into the shoes of familiar TLOU characters (including several who have never been playable before) to survive a series of randomised encounters against hordes of enemies for as long as possible. Each character has unique traits and abilities that change the way you approach each run, with extra gameplaay modifiers adding a huge amount of replayability. Three “lost levels” are also included, along with developer commentary explaining why they were cut from the original game. These levels aren’t all completely finished, but they’re fully playable, providing an interesting and rarely-seen peek behind the development curtain. If you haven’t played TLOU2 before, this remastered edition is without a doubt the very best way to experience it.

 

stars

TRINITY FUSION

PLATFORM: PC, PS4, PS5, XBOX ONE, XBOX SERIES (REVIEWED) | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

In this 2D roguelite action-platformer, three parallel universes are dying. To save the day, you’ll fight enemies across the multiverse by taking control of three different characters, each with their own unique weapons abilities. Trinity Fusion‘s twist, though, is that characters can be fused together at various points throughout the game, combining whatever powers they’ve acquired during the run to give you the edge over the hordes of foes that lie ahead.

Each procedurally-generated level is filled with power-ups, new weapons, special abilities and upgrades, giving a huge variety of options in terms of how you upgrade your character and countless combinations of builds to experiment with. Being a roguelite game means that most of your hard-earned rewards are lost when you die, starting over with a set of basic equipment, but you’re able to purchase permanent upgrades between runs which give you a slightly better chance at successfully forging a path through the game on your next attempt.

While Trinity Fusion does a lot of things right, combat unfortunately isn’t always quite up to scratch, with the majority of enemies moving fairly slowly which allows you to simply dodge behind them and dish out some punishment (or outright kill them) before they figure out where you are. Having said that, this does make the game feel less challenging than others in the genre, which isn’t always a bad thing. Trinity Fusion takes a lot of inspiration from one of the most successful roguelites of recent years, Dead Cells, but throws in enough ideas of its own to avoid feeling like a tribute. If you’re looking for a satisfying roguelite with a unique gimmick, this will tick a lot of the right boxes.

 

stars

THE DECK OF MANY THINGS

Deck of Many Things Art

The Deck of Many Things is one of Dungeons & Dragons‘ better known magical items; it’s a deck of cards that, with a simple draw of a card, can elevate or ruin any D&D campaign. Part monkey’s paw and part wishing well, the D&D community is filled with tales of people messing around with this magical deck of cards.

Wizards of the Coast’s latest product is The Deck of Many Things. It’s two differently sized hardbacked books and an oversized box of cards. It turns this one magic item into the basis of a full campaign. A traditional deck of many things contains a maximum of twenty-two cards; this set introduces a new magic item, the deck of many more things, expanding the cards to sixty-six. (And we get that many cards in this set.)

The main book is called The Book of Many Things, and it’s a DM’s toolkit similar to Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, but themed around the infamous deck of cards. It’s packed with character options, magic items, monsters and advice on integrating the infamously chaotic cards into your game. It’s quite good and has plenty of resources for a DM looking for a card-inspired campaign. Novice DMs should be aware that a lot of the options and items here are very powerful; the resources here are for short, fast, and deadly campaigns.

The second book is The Deck of Many Things Card Reference Guide. It’s a guide on how to use the cards in this set to create random stories. Using Oracle/Tarot cards to help design adventures is a well-established DM’s trick, but these cards are designed specifically with D&D in mind. The book is comprehensive and filled with lots of nice story hooks. It’s a little bit over-designed for what it is, but it’s a thoughtful addition. 

 

Finally, we come to the cards themselves. The designs are clear and accessible, but it really feels like Wizards of the Coast is a little scared of tarot card design. A previous attempt at ‘oracle’ style cards, the D&D Tarot Deck, suffered from style over substance and was hard to draw inspiration from. The Deck of Many Things cards do a little better; they’re clear as to what they are and convey their meaning well, but they lack the little hints and tricks you find in the images of modern oracle cards. Despite what the reference book suggests, these are very much a prop for a game rather than a tool to help you make up stories. The art is nice, though. 

The book and cards are presented oddly. For a start, only the card box gets a slipcase, and the reference guide fits into the card box. This is odd, as all the other slipcase products in this range are large enough to accommodate all the elements of that product. Despite being tarot-card format sized, we also get quite a large box to put cards in; it’d be easier to have them in a standard format card box. It looks nice, and we can see how it could lure the players into drawing a card, but it’s mostly going to sit on a shelf, taking up space. If it was in a decent deck box, you could stick it in a bag and have it more readily available. 

The version we received for review had subpar quality cards, which bent easily, with the gold effect trim easily coming off. We understand that the release has been delayed to fix this issue.

Overall, the highlight of this set is The Book of Many Things; it’s a fun addition to the various D&D rulebooks. The cards and their guidebook are fun props but could be much better. 

stars

PLANESCAPE: ADVENTURES IN THE MULTIVERSE

Lady Of Pain

Dungeons & Dragons is a game powered by the imagination, which explains why the creators of D&D have spent decades producing stories, adventures and entire worlds so the Dungeon Master always has something to work with. One of D&D’s oldest settings and most imagination-powered worlds involves characters exploring other planes of reality, back in 1987 with The Manual of Planes and again in 1994 with Planescape. It also inspired the 1999 video game Planescape: Torment, which is still considered a classic. 

The idea is that your elves, dwarves, and gnomes find themselves wandering into lands made of air and whimsy or variants of heaven, hell, and everything in between. Planescape is a weird, pan-dimensional setting filled with conspiracy, belief and subtle horror. It’s also been long overdue an overhaul, as the previous books are decades old and pretty dense. 

The new book, Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse, updates the old setting, streamlining a whole range of books into three slim volumes that fit into a nice slipcase. (It even comes with a DM’s screen, specific to the setting.) The first slim book, Sigil and the Outlands details the mysterious city of Sigil (pronounced with a hard G). It’s a cosmic metropolis filled with fantasy beings from across reality. Ruled by the god-like Lady of Pain, it is a place with no sun and a land that loops across itself, so the sky is just more city. Sigil is a place filled with various political factions, as in the world of Planescape, where one’s personal beliefs can magically alter the world around you. It’s a good overview of the setting and introduces some new factions to the shifting landscape that is Sigil. Alas, the book just does the broad strokes. This is a great introduction to the setting, and it’s beautifully presented, but if you want something deeper, you’ll have to seek out the older source material (the PDFs are available via Wizards of the Coast, however.)

More detail can be found in the second book, Morte’s Planar Parade, a monster manual of sorts that fleshes out the world of Planescape by talking about the various weird beings you can meet. As the name implies, we get running commentary from Morte, a talking skull that those familiar with the old Torment video game might recognise. This is well-presented, easy to read and filled with fun ideas.

Planescape dragon

The jewel of the collection is the third book, however. Turn of Fortune’s Wheel is a cross-planar campaign that is utterly unforgiving; it’s deliberately designed to remind the players how deadly jaunting across realities can be. To keep things fun, though, it has a clever rule in which the characters return as variant timeline versions of themselves. The adventure itself is loose in format; the idea is for Dungeon Masters to plug in other adventures if they wish, making this perfect for a long-running campaign requiring minimal preparation. It’s a strong mix of old and new school vibes, filled with some fun shout-outs to the history of D&D

The hardcover copy we received was robust, and there is a map in the back that’s relatively easy to remove if you need a closer look at it.  

Overall, Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse does a solid job of tying various settings together whilst being its own thing. Though on the surface, it looks like it’s doing a similar job to the Spelljammer and Radiant Citadel books, Planescapething is its strangeness. There is a distinct lack of character options in this set, which is a pity as the setting is very much its own thing, but a savvy DM can easily fix that with all the character creation options available in the game right now. Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse is a worthy update of one of the all-time great D&D settings. 

stars

 

 

AVATAR: FRONTIERS OF PANDORA

PLATFORM: PC, PS5, XBOX SERIES (REVIEWED) | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Set amongst the events of the first two Avatar movies, Frontiers of Pandora casts players as an orphaned Na’vi who – along with several others – had been kidnapped as a child and raised as a soldier by the Resources Development Administration. Kept in line by the RDA’s heavy-handed tactics, the Na’vi are eventually rescued and put into cryogenic suspension for their own safety. Years later, the awakened Na’vi join forces against the RDA, uniting the local tribes to take back their homeland.

If you’ve played any open world game over the last ten or fifteen years, you’ll be in familiar territory with Frontiers of Pandora. Playing very much like a teen-friendly Far Cry set on on an alien planet, FoP contains all of the usual elements that you’d expect to find in this sort of game – tons of exploration across an incredibly beautiful and detailed world, taking down outposts (here represented by mining facilities), foraging for resources to craft weapons and equipment, lengthy side quests and all the other trimmings. Pandora is an absolutely stunning place to spend time in and certainly offers a huge amount of things to do, but a lack of enemy variety and an abundance of cut-and-paste settlements and side quests mean that deja vu can set in quite quickly. Maybe not a game to binge on, then, but more suitable for dipping into for an hour or two at a time.

Your character’s level is linked to the equipment you’re currently using, and there are two ways to increase this – either gain favour with various clans to reap the rewards of their friendship, or hunt for rare materials and craft your own gear. The campaign’s missions insist that you continually reach higher levels before being able to take them on, so you’re often forced to break away from the story and spend time searching for various bits and pieces in order to beef your stats up to the required level. The inventory system adds an extra wrinkle with its restrictive limits and lack of options, making it difficult to keep track of which items you might need or which ones you can throw away each time your stash box fills up.

Frontiers of Pandora plays things very safe with its open world, offering plenty of activities but never really taking any bold decisions or doing anything truly novel. Fans of the Avatar films will revel in the detailed depictions of Na’vi life and its associated challenges, and the whole thing really is an absolute treat for the eyes (this is easily one of the best-looking games of the current generation). For all that it does right, its over-reliance on hunting and crafting does get in the way more often than should really be necessary, preventing you from playing through the game at your own pace. Despite its flaws, those with a fondness for open world games will undoubtedly find plenty to keep them occupied.

 

stars

PHANDELVER AND BELOW: THE SHATTERED OBELISK

One of the secrets behind Dungeons & Dragons recent success was the rather good introductory adventure, The Lost Mines of Phandelver. This adventure was just enough to encourage novice Dungeon Masters to build their own worlds based on the setting material whilst providing a decent framework for an ongoing game of D&D

Lost Mines is out of print in its original form (though the adventure can be found online via the official D&D website). Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk rewrites and rebuilds this starting story into a complete campaign. This means that the raw energy of the original has been softened slightly, and trickier encounters and elements have been modified to suit a longer sort of game.

The story starts with the adventures of having to deal with some rather nasty goblins before getting to the town and making some new friends. This book is very much a toolkit for a campaign; it assumes the DM is new to running tabletop games, and so gives you just enough to encourage your players to explore the world. As the adventurers find themselves exploring the mines and going deeper, things get even stranger. And we mean very strange.

It’s packed to the brim with weird ideas, well-thought-out maps and some solid villains to throw at your players. There are some very interesting encounters that you could easily lift out and insert into other games.  It also feels a bit like two entirely different stories smashed into each other, but this is a very good thing because it shakes the story up during the later levels. The early stages of the adventure allow the party to get to know the charming town of Phandalin, with plenty of foreshadowing for future weirdness. 

The book has some excellent creepy monsters, and if you’re looking to throw together a campaign inspired by the recent video game smash Baldur’s Gate 3, then you’ll be delighted to learn that there are similar ideas in this book you can use. This is primarily a campaign book; we get some neat magic items at the back and some rules for mutation. It’s one for the DM’s and completists. 

As always, it’s a well-put-together book with a solid binding that will survive multiple flip-throughs. A campaign of this length can take a year or so to complete (depending on how you run a game), so you want a sturdy book. Both the limited edition cover and the regular version turned up at STARBURST Towers, and both were of solid quality. The map is attached to the back, but there are ways to get those maps separately if you’re squeamish about cutting a map out of a book. The limited edition cover is very green and shiny if you like that sort of thing.

Overall, it is an excellent re-imagining of a great adventure.

stars