I don’t know if I’ve ever played something as gobsmackingly unhinged as Goat Simulator 3. Developer Coffee Stain North’s doggedly rebellious attitude is apparent in everything from the incoherent “story” to gameplay so over-the-top that half the time it’s hard to tell what’s happening – even the title refuses to play by the rules, skipping Goat Simulator 2 and going straight to three for no particular reason. Throw in four-player co-op that multiplies the madness to even greater extremes as you run rampant through a large open-world map filled with things to lick, headbutt, and blow up, and you’ve got yourself a game so absurd it’s hard to imagine being bored for even a second...

Among Us VR understands what made Innersloth’s murder mystery game so special when it came out in 2018 and brought us near-endless shenanigans by placing 10 people inside a spaceship while two Impostors try to murder everyone. This ground-up VR remake is a refreshing take on the premise that recaptures that suspense while introducing exciting new dynamics. Though its missing features may prove disappointing, what’s here is a great time. Right now, it’s one of this year’s best VR games.

It’s hard to overstate just how polished Among Us VR feels when playing. Schell Games has adapted it to virtual reality well: the cel-shaded 3D art style works to great effect, and switching to first-person gameplay proves natural...

Sonic Frontiers doesn’t limit you to a small, carefully curated prix fixe menu of things to try. Instead, it takes the all-you-can-eat buffet approach, throwing new ideas at you from start to finish, without really seeming to care if they’re fresh and appetizing or looking wilted and limp under the heat lamp. When I jumped off the starting line of this sprint across Sonic’s first open-world game I certainly didn’t expect to play jump rope, duke it out with a giant robot, watch a dramatic origin story for an extinct race of beings, or do a heck of a lot of fishing, but Frontiers kept me guessing even late into the campaign with what it would try next...

After beating Resident Evil Village the first time, I was extremely satisfied with how the horror story played out from start to finish. When Capcom announced it was making an expansion, I knew it would be a tough act to follow. Unfortunately, the three parts of the Winters’ Expansion aren’t up to it. Its new campaign is extremely short, rushed, and does little to improve on Village’s story, and the new way to play the main game makes it less scary than it was the first time around. The main bright spot is the update to Mercenaries, which gives the people more of what we want: Lady Dimitrescu.

Shadows of Rose is the extremely short new single-player story campaign included in the Winters’ Expansion, is set 16 years after Village’s events, but does little to move Village’s story forward...

There’s nothing quite like the feeling you get in a puzzle game when you look at the big picture and the solution to the whole stage comes to you all at once. And the clever challenges in The Entropy Centre provided me with a regular supply of those “Eureka!” moments. Its time-bending, first-person brain teasers weren’t usually as challenging as I might have liked, but finding the solutions was always satisfying regardless. And it all comes wrapped in a fairly compelling, bittersweet story, too.

Let’s get one thing out of the way immediately: yes, this game is a lot like Valve’s Portal series. You wake up in a suspiciously abandoned corporate complex. You find a weird science gun for solving physics puzzles that involve placing cubes on switches...

Who would win in a fight? Chris “The Boulder” Redfield or Leon “The Hair” S. Kennedy? Could Hunk take Ada Wong? What would happen if Claire Redfield fought Jill Valentine? What if one of them could transform into a Tyrant when they died? Those are the kinds of questions that Resident Evil Re:Verse seems to exist to answer in the form of a third-person deathmatch shooter that’s launched as a free bonus for owners of Resident Evil Village. It definitely has its moments, thanks in large part to its surprising death mechanic that transforms heroes into iconic monsters. The most frustrating part is how unfinished it feels, with the precious little content it has suffering from some noticeable balance problems and some bad monetization habits.

The concept is simple: choose from one of ...

How do you follow up on one of the greatest video games of all time? Sony Santa Monica finds itself in a situation not dissimilar to when Francis Ford Coppola created the sequel to his mob movie masterpiece, The Godfather. Like part two of the Corleone story, God of War Ragnarok puts a fierce, younger member of the family directly under the microscope. In doing so it manages to reach the heights of its predecessor and, in some ways, even tower above it. The writing, performances, and music are each exceptional, bringing this expansive Norse tapestry to life – but even as it holds your heart in one hand with its elegantly told story it’s crunching bones in the other with fantastically ferocious combat...

Sony Santa Monica returns with a second serving of God of War, and this time around we have the new generation of consoles entering the mix. The PlayStation 5 is significantly more powerful than the PS4 and PS4 Pro, which is reflected in the modes and outputs available. Right from loading you are asked to choose between Favor Resolution or Favor Performance, with the former offering the highest pixel quality and the latter offering higher frame rates. A third toggle is also available that turns a High Frame Rate mode on or off for each. Either way, these are big leaps over last generation.

Raised in Hell, Made in Heaven

The core assets, character models, materials, particle and visual effects, and animations are close to identical no matter which platform you play on...

With the WRC license Scandinavian flicking itself to EA in 2023, WRC Generations may represent the last official effort developed by KT Racing for now – and the studio has certainly shot the works at it. The culmination of a seven-year stint on the series, WRC Generations combines gorgeous effects and great handling with the most generous selection of rally stages I’ve seen anywhere, and the result is the best and most laudably comprehensive rally game of KT’s tenure. That said, last year’s WRC 10 held that title previously, and most of Generations’ improvements relative to it are otherwise largely iterative.

WRC Generations features a massive 21 rally locations, including all 13 of the events from this year’s official championship, plus a further eight bonus rallies – those are ...

The claustrophobic press of frenzied melee, whistling of missiles, and thunderous charge of cavalry are often represented in games, but rarely so personally as in the Mount & Blade series. It’s not often I get the feeling I’m experiencing what must’ve been the needs of a commander at eye-level on the field trying to maneuver his forces, or being forced to desperately scramble among bodies for a quiver of arrows or fresh shield. This is the appeal of Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord, and it outweighs all of the holes, bugs, and underwhelming strategy and roleplaying mechanics you have to wade through to get here. When you reach the battlefield, this low-fantasy medieval simulation is unmatched.

Bannerlord drops you into the shoes of a capable, temporarily impoverished wannabe in a sandbox...