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Tom's Guide
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Tom's Guide
11 best video games of 2025 (so far) on PS5, Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox Series X and PC
We're more than halfway through 2025, and it's already been quite an eventful year for gaming. The launch of the Nintendo Switch 2 has grabbed most of the headlines, but across all platforms, including PS5, Xbox Series X and PC gaming, there have been great games to play in almost every genre. From the cinematic highs of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the heavy-metal fun of Doom: The Dark Ages, and the delightful charms of Donkey Kong's latest 3D platforming adventure on the brand new Switch 2, there have been must-play games to suit all tastes. And no year in gaming can ever be labeled underwhelming when you have a new epic from Hideo Kojima to unravel. Here at Tom's Guide, we've spent this week taking stock of the new games released in 2025 to date, and these are the 11 that have stood out the most to us. There are still plenty more contenders on the horizon, but any of these games could make a shout to be called GOTY. Platforms: PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X Capcom's Monster Hunter Wilds brilliantly brings the company's beloved franchise into the current console generation. It maintains the core of 2018's Monster Hunter World but cranks up everything fans love, offering a bigger and bolder adventure. It doesn't skimp on depth or features, yet it's super easy for new players to jump in. The story and gameplay of Monster Hunter Wilds revolve around the ever-changing environments and monsters. This makes the game's fantasy world feel incredibly rich and real. While the stunning natural beauty will initially grab you, it's the exciting hunts and deep customization that will keep you and your friends hooked for months (and potentially years). I've already sunk about 180 hours into Monster Hunter Wilds, and I expect that number to continue going up as Capcom continues delivering new monsters and updates. Though the game still needs better optimization on PC, it works great on home consoles like the PS5. Right now, Monster Hunter Wilds is in the running for my personal game of the year. — Tony Polanco Read our full Monster Hunter Wilds review Monster Hunter Wilds is the latest entry in the long-running series, and sees you venture into new terrortiy teeming with fearsome creatures to craft. Sticking closely to the series' well-established formula, it combines thrilling battles with deep crafting and customization. And also boats a highly cinematic main story campaign that can be played in full four-player co-op. Platforms: Nintendo Switch 2, PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X I've been a huge fan of Hazelight ever since It Takes Two, and Split Fiction takes everything that made that game great — the co-op mechanics, the emotional storytelling, the wild shifts in gameplay — and pushes it even further. This time, you follow Mio and Zoe, two rival authors trapped inside a simulation made from their own wild imaginations. To get out, they have to team up (whether they want to or not) and navigate these unpredictable, ever-changing worlds inspired by their writing. I first played it with my dad. He took Zoe's whimsical fantasy realm while I played Mio's glitchy cyberpunk future. Watching how our actions influenced each other's world in real time was pretty magical. Then I played again with my partner, swapping sides, and suddenly the story felt completely different (in a good way). That dual perspective serves as the heart of the game. Hazelight really knows how to make co-op feel meaningful, and Split Fiction proves they're only getting better. It's bold, weird, emotional, and easily the best game I've played this year. I can't wait to see how they bring this mind-bending story to life in the upcoming film adaptation! — Alix Blackburn Read our full Split Fiction review Split Fiction is a co-op adventure where two writers, Mio and Zoe, get trapped in a chaotic mix of their own stories. One minute, you're dodging cyber ninjas in a sci-fi city, the next, you're riding dragons in a fantasy forest. From the makers of It Takes Two, Split Fiction is all about teamwork, solving puzzles, and navigating wild genre mashups to escape a world of imagination. Platforms: PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X I've played every mainline game in the Assassin's Creed franchise, and while I really enjoyed the RPG-style Origins, Odyssey, Valhalla and Mirage, I always wished Ubisoft would take it back to basics and focus more on stealth. Assassin's Creed: Shadows (kinda) granted that wish by delivering a well-balanced game which allows you to go guns blazing or sneak around quietly with its dual protagonists, and it wasn't long before it became one of my favorite titles in the entire series. As the name suggests, you can use the shadows to your advantage by extinguishing candles and sneaking around in the dark when you play as the assassin Naoe, and that's the bit I've enjoyed the most. Navigating a high-stakes situation, like a castle full of powerful enemies who can one-shot you, feels thrilling and rewarding. Ubisoft has also created a beautiful world. Feudal Japan feels vibrant and the changing seasons mechanic adds a degree of unpredictability to the game. Despite some of its (minor) flaws, I've sunk 100 hours into it and I keep going back for more. — Nikita Achanta Read our full Assassin's Creed: Shadows review The 14th major installment in the AC franchise, Assassin's Creed: Shadows, is set in 16th-century Japan during the late Sengoku period. Players experience the enduring conflict between the Assassin Brotherhood and the Templar Order through two protagonists: Naoe, a skilled female shinobi, and Yasuke, an African samurai inspired by a real-life historical figure. Platforms: PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X Nothing puts me off a game quicker than wandering around aimlessly, not knowing what I'm supposed to do next. Open worlds? Not for me, which is why the titles that I love – from Until Dawn to Detroit: Become Human – tend to feel more like interactive movies than they do combat or puzzle-heavy playthroughs. There's something so soothing about awesome vibes and visuals carrying you through a great story and Lost Records: Bloom & Rage fits the bill perfectly. Set to haunting synths and pop-punk guitar chords, its dual timelines play out simultaneously. In 1995, sweet loner Swann strikes up a fast friendship with fellow teens Nora, Autumn, and Kat, and the quartet spends the summer writing music, shooting videos, and… stumbling across a supernatural force they dub The Abyss. In 2022, an apprehensive Swann returns to Vancouver to reunite with her old pals and try to unpack those life-altering few weeks. The way you interact with other characters influences the story, making it easy to connect with them, and the central mystery makes it hard not to play it all in one sitting. It's the perfect combo of cozy – I spent way too much time stroking Swann's cat – and creepy. If you like shows like "Yellowjackets," "Stranger Things," or "The OA," this one's for you. — Amy West Lost Records: Bloom & Rage is a narrative-focused adventure game from Life is Strange developers DontNod. Set across two time periods, 1995 and 2002, it seems four high school friends create lifelong bonds and experience an unexplained event that will change their lives forever. Platforms: PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X I've been a longtime fan of turn-based RPGs, and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is up there as one of the very best I've played. Boasting unique art direction and beautiful graphics, a complex, engagingly written story, thrilling and dense combat mechanics (and some utterly brilliant music), Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a fantastic game from top to bottom. I relished exploring its many nooks and crannies for our Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 review earlier this year, and, even though I'm not usually someone who replays games and I felt like I had had a complete, satisfying experience by the time I rolled credits… I've frequently found myself itching to find the time to go back in and mop up everything the game has to offer. Yes, even the dastardly optional platforming sequences I bounced off first time out. Simply put, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is an RPG that I wouldn't be surprised to see cropping up on many 'best games of 2025' lists come the end of the year; it's just that good, and it deserves all the praise it earned earlier this year, and then some. — Martin Shore Read our full Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 review Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a turn-based RPG with a focus on cinematic storytelling. Set in a rich fantasy world, you play a team of expeditioners on a quest to defeat a sinister foe known only as The Paintress. With its unique combat system and deep, emotional story about defying fate and fighting for survival, it's one of 2025's very best. Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5 and Xbox Seires X Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is the triumphant return of a classic fighting game series that's been worth the 26-year wait. This isn't just a blast from the past, however, thanks to its super smooth animations, flashy visuals, and deep gameplay. Like its predecessors, this latest Fatal Fury is a true rival to Capcom's Street Fighter. The new REV system gives you many ways to attack and defend, so you can really show off your style and pull off some seriously punishing combos. Whether you're a casual player or a hardcore fighting game enthusiast, the strong single-player and online modes have you covered. If you're looking for something different from Mortal Kombat 1 and Tekken 8, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is the game to try. It's a real treat for fighting game fans, and it's my favorite fighting game of 2025 so far. — Tony Polanco Read our full Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves review Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is a fighting game for fighting game fans, thanks to its deep gameplay mechanics and diverse character roster. Offering a slew of single-player and multiplayer modes, this game has something for just about everyone. Platforms: PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X Although Doom was my favorite game of 2016, its successor, Doom Eternal, disappointed me with its repetitive 'rock, paper, scissors' combat. Thankfully, Doom: The Dark Ages corrects the course, offering a more engaging 'stand and fight' combat system and a medieval-inspired arsenal of weapons. Central to your array is the new Shield Saw, which is paramount for blocking and parrying incoming attacks, but can also be hurled to decimate groups of demons. The Doom Slayer can also execute a powerful shield charge, allowing you to lock onto an enemy and launch yourself across the battlefield, effectively closing the gap between you and your targeted demon. As an OG Doom fan, I appreciate id Software's attempts to deliver more world-building in The Dark Ages — taking a more cinematic approach to storytelling than previous titles, the developer expands on series lore while also providing greater variety in gameplay. I particularly loved battling Titan demons in a giant mech suit, though I could've done with fewer Mecha Dragon sections. The absence of long-time composer Mick Gordon is also felt, as the music is rather unmemorable this time around. Minor quibbles aside, Doom: The Dark Ages stands tall as my top game of 2025 so far. — Stephen Lambrechts Read our full Doom: The Dark Ages review Doom: The Dark Ages is another stellar entry in the classic shooter franchise, thanks to its engaging, grounded combat, expansive and varied locales, phenomenal graphics and hours of gameplay. Though it's not revolutionary, it delivers a fast-paced and visceral experience few games can match, and it looks flippin' stunning as well. Platforms: Nintendo Switch 2, PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X If you liked and enjoyed the original Monster Train, then the sequel is almost a no-brainer. It's a fantastic deck builder that encourages you to break the game. I've played the original near weekly since it launched; it was my Slay the Spire. For those who never played, Monster Train 2 (and its predecessor) is a deck builder where you are fighting your way through hell on a train. You pick a clan like the Banished, who are fallen angels, to fight over three tiers on the train as it rockets through hell. Randomness is the name of the game with decks that can die out after one battle, or one that will fly through the session. The sequel gives you more with new Equipment cards, clans, and monsters to battle. It is rogue-like in that your deck and enemies won't always be the same, but that adds to the challenge and the surprises, especially when you find that combo of cards that blows through levels. — Scott Younker Monster Train 2 is a much celebrated sequel that brings back the roguelike deckbuilding formula that made the original such a hit while adding a host of new clans to control, enemies to battle, and new challenges and modes. There's a reason it's rated "overwhelmingly positive" on Steam. Platforms: PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X I'm a little surprised to be selecting Rematch as my early GOTY pick, considering my first impressions of the new online sports game from Sifu developer Sloclap were not good. But I chalk that up to the game's steep learning curve. Because once I got my head around it, I quickly fell in love. See, Rematch strips away the generous auto-targeting found in the EA Sports FC series and forces you to place each pass and shot with careful precision. This can lead to embarrassing whiffs, but it makes every goal, assist or diving save feel truly earned. Your skills come through experience, not stat upgrades. Taking cues from Rocket League, but minus the RC cars, it's an online soccer game (football for us Brits) that sees you squad up in teams of up to five players, locked in a cage-style arena and battling to be crowned the king of the pitch. It will take you a match (or 12) to get the hang of things, but once the basics start to click, it offers a thrill few sporting games can match. Just be warned, assembling a good squad is vital for success. Far too many random players online seem to think they're Lionel Messi and hog the ball to a quite maddening degree. — Rory Mellon Rematch is a new online soccer game from developer Sloclap. You control a single player in matches of up to 10 players as you compete to score well-worked goals and make dramatic defensive interventions. With colorful visuals, fast-paced gameplay and a high skill ceiling, Rematch will appeal to football fans and newcomers alike. Platforms: PS5 I can only think of two games in my life that have truly moved me to tears, Death Stranding 2 being one of them. It has this captivating aura about it that's hard to explain, beyond just its cinematic and jaw-dropping presentation. I may not be a father in the real world, but Death Stranding 2 makes me feel like one. It's in its characters that Death Stranding 2 finds its true soul. From the charming Rainy to the reserved Tomorrow, these characters not only propel the story forward, but give you (the player) a reason to fight on. It's all thanks to game director Hideo Kojima's unmatched storytelling. Death Stranding 2 is magical, heartfelt, and totally weird all the same. While the first game largely focused on nonconfrontational combat, that's put to the side in favor of some incredible action in its sequel. Each player will find in Death Stranding 2 their own underlying messages and themes. Lessons on fatherhood, forgiveness, loss, and redemption speak volumes in a fictional world that is fraught with loneliness. It's hard to put to words what Death Stranding 2 makes you feel, but it's almost enlightening in a way. — Ryan Epps. Read our full Death Stranding 2 review Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is the much-anticipated sequel to 2019's critically acclaimed original. You again step into the well-worn boots of Sam Porter Bridges, as you trek across a stunning Mexican landscape to reconnect society. Boasting some of the best visuals on PS5 and an emotionally resonant story, alongside plenty of player freedom in how you tackle missions, Death Stranding 2 delivers something pretty special. Platforms: Nintendo Switch 2 I still remember getting Donkey Kong Country in a bundle with my Super Nintendo and while Donkey Kong Bananza didn't come bundled with the Switch 2 at launch, maybe it should have. Like Super Mario 64, Donkey Kong's latest 3D outing shows exactly what the new system is capable of and why it's worth upgrading from the original Switch. The core Donkey Kong gameplay remains in Bananza but with a new destructive twist. You're still running and rolling around, jumping on enemies and slapping the ground but now, you can destroy just about anything that gets in your way. By adding destructible environments to the mix, you really have a lot more freedom and though you're still in enclosed levels, they feel a lot more open-ended. This is especially true when it comes to how you progress through the story and collect the various Banandium Gems scattered throughout each sublayer. This would be a good enough addition on its own, but you also collect various Bananza powers that let you transform between different animals like a zebra or an ostrich. Once you collect several, you can freely switch between them and this adds another layer of strategy to this already ambitious game. Even after finishing my review, I haven't stopped playing as there are still loads of things to collect and environments to destroy, which says a lot about this new take on a 3D Donkey Kong game. — Anthony Spadafora Read our full Donkey Kong Bananza review Donkey Kong Bananza is the Switch 2's first flagship exclusive post-launch, and it allows DK to smash his way through (and down into) the surrounding terrain. He can punch his way through mountains or head underground in search of collectibles. It's hands-down one of the Switch 2's best dates at this stage of its lifecycle.
Daily Maverick
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Maverick
Hideo Kojima's Death Stranding 2: A bold exploration of grief and redemption awaits
Hideo Kojima's Death Stranding 2: On the Beach successfully captures the magic promised by the original game, and it'll go down in history as one of the definitive games of the PS5 era. Death Stranding was an unusual proposition when it first launched. A post-apocalyptic courier sim was a hard sell in 2019, and its divisive structure — long cinematics punctuated by laborious treks — meant it didn't land for everyone. But there was an undeniable charm to it, a unique magic that helped it stand apart from the sea of third-person shooters and live-service games of its time, cementing its legacy as a flawed classic. Six years later, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach continues Sam Porter Bridges's story, this time across a new continent. Like most sequels, it expands on the original's ideas, but it's also bolder, more refined and proudly wears its sincere heart on its sleeve. It's not just one of legendary developer Hideo Kojima's best games; it's a love letter to life, connection, and meaning from a developer who has grown into one of the great elder statesmen of the games industry. That sentimentality is woven into every pixel, whether through sly glances at the camera or offhand lines loaded with deeper meaning. It's also a faster-paced experience, ditching the slow burn of the original's prologue. If you never played the original, the gist of it is that our weary protagonist has shut himself off from the world after the loss of a loved one, and he eventually embarks on a journey across the Australian continent to heal. Naturally, things get more complicated — this is a Kojima game, after all — and Sam's journey is fraught with peril and ghosts from the past. On that front, Death Stranding 2 is a major leap forward, building on the 2021 Death Stranding Director's Cut and layering in even more gameplay depth. At its core, this is still a hiking simulator mixed with puzzle elements, where plotting your path from Point A to B while carrying precious cargo takes planning, patience, and a good pair of boots. That extends to combat and stealth as well, as these two facets of the game have been significantly improved. While they felt like an afterthought in the original game, the action-packed side of Death Stranding 2 plays like a spiritual successor to Kojima's Metal Gear Solid series, resulting in snappier throwdowns with brigands from the land Down Under, or tense moments when you're holding your breath and sneaking into position so that you can take out BTs with a well-aimed blood-grenade. Yet the game's finest moments are often its quietest: scenes of Sam alone with the world, pushing forward one determined step at a time. These stretches of solitude, set to a hauntingly beautiful soundtrack by Ludvig Forssell and Woodkid, reinforce the game's themes with subtle power. If the first Death Stranding was about connection, this sequel deepens that message while exploring grief, isolation, and healing. These themes are thoroughly explored through an emotional storyline anchored by stellar performances from Kojima's cast of celebrity buddies. Norman Reedus is once again the world-weary Sam, and while he's as laconic as ever, the returning Fragile — played by the amazing Lea Seydoux — is a ray of sunshine and a perfect counterpart to him. The cast has also expanded, with even more characters brought to life through a combination of famous faces and voice actors helping to propel the story along by rattling off some of the most absurd yet delightful lines you've ever heard. Special mention has to go to Troy Baker as the villainous Higgs. As Sam's nemesis, he's a scene-stealing force of nature looking to bring about the downfall of humanity once and for all. Rocking a new Crow-inspired look — and a battle-axe guitar — Baker steals the show with a gleefully over-the-top performance and gripping moments of nuanced pain. Visually, Death Stranding 2 is staggering. There are moments so surreal and breathtaking that you'll instinctively pause just to absorb them. It's a triumph of design and artistic ambition: brilliantly weird, deeply earnest, and utterly unforgettable. This is a game that urges you to go outside and touch some grass, then dares you to dream about what might lie beyond it. DM
Otago Daily Times
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Review: Beached as, bro
Is Hideo Kojima the world's last rock-star game developer? It's difficult to think of anyone else these days who would have the clout — and get the funding — to make a triple-A game as extremely idiosyncratic as Kojima Production's Death Stranding 2: On The Beach. To be fair, maybe the funding part was easy. The first Death Stranding (2019) sold 19 million copies, so plenty of people were on board to steer The Walking Dead actor Norman Reedus (captured here again down to the minute details of the moles on his face) as he lugged packages across a post-apocalyptic United States. This reviewer missed out though, so coming into On the Beach, I had a bit to catch up on. Oh boy. So: the dead have returned to the world of the living as ghostly "BTs" (beached things); they brought with them a crystalline substance that has empowered new technologies but ruined others (like aeroplanes); you can see them with a bit of tech that requires you to carry around an unborn baby in a little pod; and if the BTs ever manage to consume a living being (which they seem keen to), something akin to a nuclear explosion goes off. As a result, there was a bit of an apocalypse, which ended up with the world's remaining population reduced to huddling in isolated bunkers and cities, cut off from one other and relying on porters, like Reedus' character Sam, to make lonely supply deliveries between them across a perilous landscape. In the first game Sam made his way one load at a time across the US, connecting these settlements to the "chiral network" (a sort of tech-magic internet) handily averting the extinction of humanity while he was at it. At the outset of the second, he's something of a fugitive (having run off to illegally raise his little pod-pal, Lou), but is soon brought back into the fold to continue the mission of spreading the chiral network, this time into Mexico — and then, thanks to some more Death Stranding-world magic — across the whole of Australia. So yes, in a way you could simulate the experience of playing this game by joining the exodus across The Ditch and getting a job with Australia Post — but you'd miss out on a lot. Much of the game is spent just navigating Sam by night and day across the graphically gorgeous wilderness of Australia (filled with what seem to be authentic Aussie voice actors, which is nice), which serves up hazards such as local earthquakes, storms, flash floods, bush fires, and just plain overbalancing on a scree slope due to your towering backpack, faceplanting, and sliding 30m downhill — likely one of the more wince-inducing experiences in gaming. (Oh, and there's the magic rain that rapidly ages things, too.) Sam has plenty of options to facilitate his journey, from ladders and climbing ropes up to more high-tech options like hovering cargo platforms and off-road vehicles, though everything he brings along with him must be managed as part of his overall load. It's gameplay of quiet satisfaction: planning your route, packing well, the often Zen-like quality of the journey itself, and the "job well done" of cargo delivered undamaged at the destination (uh, or maybe just a bit damaged — sorry, there were these ghosts). Your fellow porters are with you along the way, too. Though they never enter your game directly, you're able to share resources and supplies with other Beach players via the game's "Strand" system, which can include answering quests for aid, leaving signs or structures for others to find, completing your fellow players' deliveries, or collaborating on larger projects like road-building. There's a little buzz to the game letting you know that scores of people have used a bridge you built, but it's possibly even cooler to learn that a single player elsewhere in the world stumbled across and took shelter in the little hut you left halfway up a mountain in the middle of nowhere. Your travel vlogging, though, is interrupted by regular combat encounters out in the wilds, both with human banditry and the BTs. The former provide some fun, if standard, third-person melee / ranged / stealth encounters, with the wrinkle of occasionally finding yourself in a four-man brawl while wearing a backpack the size of a fridge. BTs though, while nicely terrifying, are a bit of a pain in the butt, employing a "tar" mechanic that often leaves Sam struggling to move, and are most heavily damaged by grenades that can be tricky to aim. They're also your opponents for most of the game's boss fights, which can be exercises in frustration until you adapt to the rhythm of managing your inventory on the go while fighting. Actual gameplay, though, is only so much of the On the Beach experience. If Kojima is a rock star, he's David Bowie — arty, outre and throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks, no matter how weird. Get ready for Hollywood directors galore, forensically motion captured, to drop in as actors, Lea Seydoux to keep crying a Single Tear of Emotion while wearing a scarf that's a spare pair of hands, and red-hooded cultists schlepping their evil leader around through phantom tar in a Gothic techno-sarcophagus. Careening from bizarre to moving and back, the story makes the most of the possibilities of a world in which the afterlife is real, technology is basically magic and people can come back from the dead, taking big swings at big themes of loss, the importance of human connection and the inevitability of our extinction — all while pulling moves like "so this character is called Dollman, he's a possessed ventriloquist's dummy. Just roll with it". While it is a lot (and you sometimes have cause to wonder if anyone ever tells Kojima he has had a bad idea), it just about all comes together as something that's often quite profound. Perhaps more striking than this though is that as a gaming experience, it's so very singular — the sort of different that's normally destined to be ironed out of games with giant budgets that need the broadest possible appeal. You're simply unlikely to play anything like Death Stranding 2 until, well, probably Death Stranding 3. So hitch up your pack, head for the horizon and think heavy thoughts about how human connection is all we have as our species heads into terminal decline. Oh, and also, Norman Reedus' bladder meter is full; press circle to have him pee in a bush. By Ben Allan From: Sony / Kojima Productions
Gizmodo
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Gizmodo
Hot Toys Just Gave Us Our Best Look Yet at Galactus Ahead of ‘Fantastic Four: First Steps'
Whenever a highly anticipated comic book film is released, toy manufacturers often reveal the looks of the main heroes and villains before they appear on the big screen. And like clockwork, Hot Toys has carried on that tradition by revealing The Fantastic Four: First Steps' Galactus in all his celestial glory. Okay, we can't entirely blame Hot Toys here. AMC theaters merchandised the Marvel big bad by transforming his big noggin into a popcorn bucket. And before that, Lego joined in on the marketing fray with its set of Marvel's first family battling Galactus. But what makes Hot Toys stand out in the crowd of Marvel merchandising is its iteration on Galactus, which doesn't sand over his imposing visage in a more cartoony fashion. It looks like someone scanned actor Ralph Ineson in one of those Hideo Kojima video game scan machines, stumbled into a figurine factory, and started cooking. Take a gander at this big lummox. 'We are proud to present the Galactus Jumbo Sofvi Figure. Crafted from vinyl material, the figure stands an imposing 70cm tall with 6 points of articulation. His head, upper arms, forearms, and waist are rotatable for commanding display options,' Hot Toys wrote in a Facebook post. 'His head sculpt features LED-lit eyes that glow with cosmic energy, while finely painted metallic red and purple finishes bring his armor to vivid life. The Galactus Jumbo Figure is more than a collectible, it's a Sofvi art piece that bridges toy and high-end display craftsmanship.' It continued: 'Contrasting the scale of the massive figure are five miniature figures, including Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, The Thing, and Silver Surfer, designed to be attachable to Galactus' body. A Special Edition only available in selected markets will include a specially designed The Fantastic Four: First Steps metal collectible card with display case.' Ever the salesman, Hot Toys capped off its Facebook post by goading readers into buying the colossal figure with the enticing tagline plaguing every collector's waking hour: that their prospective Fantastic Four displays would be forever incomplete without a Galactus towering over them. Before Hot Toys showcased its Jumbo Sofvi figurine of Galactus, fans had to rely on getting a glimpse of him through freeze-framing moments in Marvel's cascading rollout of Fantastic Four: First Steps trailers and featurettes. Not unlike the infamous picture of Big Foot trudging in the forest, all Galactus screen grabs are blurry at best and an indiscernible outline of the big bad at worst. So, kudos to Hot Toys for giving us an eyeful of Galactus so we can put a face to the Celestial adjacent being's goal of kidnapping Reed and Sue Richards' newborn baby for reasons known only to comic book readers. Fantastic Four: First Steps releases on July 25. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what's next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
Metro
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Metro
Shadow Labyrinth review - Pac-Man meets Metroid
The Pac-Man episode of Amazon Prime show Secret Level is the inspiration for this strange new Metroidvania and its peculiar mix of influences. 2025 has so far been a good year for weird games, with plenty of unlikely oddities, including one featuring a boy stuck in a permanent T-pose and whose best friend is a singing giraffe, and the latest from Hideo Kojima where you take orders from a talking shop mannequin and fight ghosts by flinging a boomerang soaked in your own blood at them. It may seem a cliché but most of the strangest video games are made in Japan; those two certainly and so is this: a grim and gritty 2D Metroidvania that's also a secret Pac-Man game. As bizarre as that idea is it's worryingly reminiscent of Bomberman: Act Zero on the original Xbox, which reimagined the colourful party game as a dystopian nightmare and became infamous as one of the worst video games ever made. Shadow Labyrinth is nowhere near that bad, but then it's not actually that gritty either. It's inspired by a 10 minute episode of Amazon Prime Video show Secret Level, which reimagined Pac-Man as a sci-fi story about a starfighter pilot crash landing on an alien world and being manipulated by a malign Pac-Man. We haven't seen it, but we hope it was better than the game tie-in. Before we learned of the Amazon connection, we assumed the game had been inspired by the famous The Madness of Mission 6 fan art for Pac-Man, which you've probably seen on a T-shirt or two, if you've ever been to any kind of video game convention or similar event. That almost certainly would've been a lot more interesting than the vapid, cliché ridden sci-fi tale that is Shadow Labyrinth's actual backstory. Right from the start, the plot is filled with nonsensical sounding names and jargon, but the short version is you're a nameless swordsman who's been revived by a floating yellow orb called Puck, that anyone else would recognise as Pac-Man. (The name is a reference to the fact that the original arcade game was originally meant to be called Puck Man, until someone realised how easily the first letter of the word could be defaced.) After the brief, and very confusing, introduction you're immediately knee deep in Metroid homages, whacking weird alien bugs with your sword and practicing your 2D platform jumping. All of this is fine, although the bland and clinical-looking art style is immediately unappealing and almost makes it look like an old Flash game. Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. The core gameplay is absolutely bog standard Metroidvania but the degree to which it copies the look and feel of Metroid, rather than Castlevania or anything more original, is strange and off-putting, given this is supposed to be a Pac-Man game. More importantly, Shadow Labyrinth is no Metroid Dread, and not only is it not as well designed or executed (the signposting is awful) but the only thing unique about it is the shoehorned in Pac-Man references. Like all Metroidvanias, there's a lot of exploration and backtracking in Shadow Labyrinth, as you pick up new abilities and weapons that then allow you to access areas you've previously seen, but which were inaccessible the first time round. That sense of slowly opening up the whole map, slowly peeling open its secrets, is the core appeal of the genre but this is a very uninspired implementation of the concept, with a hundred better example available elsewhere – especially from indie developers. You've probably already guessed, but one of the most important uses for Puck is taking over the morph ball role from Metroid, as you squeeze into places you can't usually fit. The Spider Ball upgrade, that allows you to stick to walls and tracks, is the real focus though, as you move along like the arcade game, eating little white dots along the way. There're more explicit recreations of the classic Pac-Man gameplay in a series of mini-games, which look and sound like the excellent Pac-Man Championship Edition games. They even use the same music, which only begs the question of why Bandai Namco didn't just make a new one of those, instead of wasting everyone's time with this Metroid nonsense. More Trending Having Puck combine with your character to become a sort of mechanical demon Pac-Man dragon sounds interestingly weird in theory but even that doesn't make the game any more fun to play. To add more salt to the wound, Puck is a very annoying character, and the whole game comes across as obnoxious and abrasive. When we say our favourite bit is the subtler references to other Namco classics, like Galaga and Xevious, it should give some indication of how much we enjoyed the majority of the game. Pac-Man has been around for 45 years and has aged better than most other golden age coin-ops, with the Pac-Man Championship Edition series keeping the core gameplay fresh and exciting even after all these decades. There's nothing fresh or exciting about Shadow Labyrinth though, the memory of which will linger for far less time. In Short: Mixing Pac-Man with Metroid seems like an enjoyably strange idea at first, until you realise just how bland and unimaginative the end result is. Pros: You have to get a long wrong to make a Metroidvania completely uninteresting and the sword-based combat is mildly engaging. The Pac-Man Championship Edition mini-games are fun. Cons: Once you dismiss the Pac-Man gimmicks the game has no notable ideas of its own and pales compared to better examples of the genre. Confusing and unengaging story, with ugly visuals. Score: 4/10 Formats: PlayStation 5 (reviewed), Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, and PCPrice: £24.99Publisher: Bandai NamcoDeveloper: Bandai Namco StudiosRelease Date: 18th July 2025 Age Rating: 12 Email gamecentral@ leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader's Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. MORE: Cyberpunk 2077 fans think new update secretly runs better on PS5 Pro MORE: The Drifter review – Australian adventure time MORE: RoboCop: Rogue City – Unfinished Business review – 20 seconds to comply
