Ghost of Yōtei is big, bloody, and beautiful - refining Tsushima’s formula rather than reinventing it. Exploration is richer, stealth more precise, the world obviously gorgeous. It’s polished and fun enough to keep me hooked through to the end - indeed, there’s a lot to love - but the familiar openworld rhythms are definitely feeling a little weary. It’s a strong execution, but tinged with a melancholy sense that the formula is wearing thin.

Borderlands 4 is a blast when you lock into the core loop - snappy gunplay, meaningful loot, big playgrounds. But the bombastic, quippy aesthetic and tone now read like a bit of a relic. You almost have to meet it halfway - tune out the dated swagger, focus on the systems - then you can find the fun. In any case, if you’re looking for a shooter to turn your brain off in, there’s a lot to like.

Hell Is Us is haunting, pretty clever, and not what I expected. Combat is simple, sometimes clunky, but that’s not the point - it’s about mystery, puzzles, and piecing together scraps of story in a war-torn world. The no-map, no-hand-holding design is immersive, and rewards patience. At its best, it’s unsettling and atmospheric. At its worst, it’s repetitive and meandering. Not for everyone, but if you crave exploration over combat, give it a look.

He is Coming delivers a stripped-down but intriguing roguelike loop, helped a lot by its retro artstyle: explore, loot, and face tense boss fights with wild set bonuses. The real star is potentially Kingmaker-mode, a PvP twist where your build becomes the boss for others, with crowns and skins as bragging rights. Worth a look!

Cult of the Lamb expands in early 2026 with the Woolhaven DLC. Near the endgame, players can uncover the frozen mountain of Woolhaven, rebuild its lost town, endure blizzards, battle the creeping Rot, and even raise animals through new ranching systems. Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!

Yooo! Sekiro: No Defeat is an anime based on the acclaimed FromSoft title. The series revisits the world of Shadows Die Twice and will be streaming soon exclusively on Crunchyroll. Fingers crossed!

Horse-girl racing idol sim sounds like a joke, but Umamusume’s training loop is surprisingly sharp, races are tense, and the production value combined with attention to detail in recreating aspects of real world Japanese racehorses is weirdly elite. Gacha is generous upfront, but obviously brutal long-term. You’ll probably resent how much fun it is. A global phenomenon for a reason: addictive, unskippable, potentially shameful.

Unashamedly Dark Souls 1-pilled, Wuchang brings back slow, stamina-tight combat, interconnected level design and more, while introducing its own novel ideas. Difficulty starts mild, then spikes pretty hard. Builds feel meaningful, from clash-happy dual blades to busted spellcasting. Really solid!

First of all: it’s good. I’m always for happy FromSoft to try stuff, and this was a really interesting idea. If you’re relying on two multiplayer randoms, you may be in for a bad time - it can be a bit of a dice roll, but solo is absolutely doable. It’s hard to play this and not have thoughts of a FromSoft live-service game, and so long as it wouldn’t distract from their usual approach… I’d be kinda down for it! This is multiplayer Elden Ring with drips and drabs of content and mechanics from all over the From archive - it might not be what you want from them, but it’s really fun.

It’s real! A24 and Alex Garland are making a live-action Elden Ring film with Bandai Namco. Details are scarce, but the world is obviously ripe for exploration, and Garland rules. Hopefully George R. R. Martin and Vaati are consulting!