God of War: Ragnarök, PS5 Review

“Boy, this isn’t game!” – Yes, it is…it’s God of War Ragnarök, one of the best games around!

God of War (2018) was one of the stand-out games of the PS4 generation.

The next entry, God of War: Ragnarök has finally arrived on PS5 and once again Kratos and his “Boy”, Atreus, have a new adventure through Norse mythology.

After almost 20hrs I can say with confidence, it will be atop many Game of the Year lists in 2022.

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Spider-Man Remastered: Web-slinging, PC action

PC gamers, rejoice: You can now play one of the best superhero video games around with Insomniac’s Spider-Man Remastered swinging its way onto PC this month.

The PC port has been handled by Nixxes. A 20-year-old Dutch company renowned for a magic touch taking console titles and getting them to work on PC.

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Gran Turismo 7, review

Playstation owners now get treated to another top tier exclusive, Gran Turismo 7 (GT7).

Polyphony Digital has kept in step with it’s other first party stablemates, by making sure GT7 boasts all the quality and polish we all now expect from Playstation Studios exclusives.

Gran Turismo was the racing-sim gold standard for years, it’s been almost a decade since a numbered release in the series.

I’m pleased to say, GT7 is here to confirm there is no doubt who takes pole position in the driving sim standings.

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Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection

For more than a decade we’ve been friends of Nathan Drake here at the Cottage.

We’ve re-trod old ground with the previous Drake Collection, been wowed by Uncharted 4 and Guy thoroughly enjoyed Lost Legacy.

It’s been a journey, fraught with miraculous leaps, ferocious beasts, all manner of mercenaries and often faultless Naughty Dog narrative.

Now in Legacy of Thieves we get to re-play the two most recent games, Uncharted 4 and Lost Legacy in glorious PS5 vision.

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God of War, PC

A new year and another PS4 console game has made the jump to PC, with Santa Monica Studio’s God of War now available to PC gamers – and what a beauty it is.

When the game came out on console in 2018 it quickly became the poster child for how a talented development team could make games on Sony’s console sing.

On PC the graphical fidelity has been turned all the way up to 11 – and it looks bloody fantastic.

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Death Stranding: Directors Cut – PS5 Review

Death Stranding Directors Cut is an odd descriptor for the re-release of a Hideo Kojima game. Kojima is renowned for being that unbridled Game Director with creative freedom aplenty. So, one would expect a game he made was already his “cut”.  And I would argue this was especially true regarding the genre bending, Postman Pat simulator, Death Stranding.

Rest assured, Kojima has confirmed that this “sub-title” is essentially a Sony Marketers attempt of saying, this is the PS5 remastered version of Death Stranding with a few extra bits.

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Days Gone PC technical review

Once upon a time, you would never have imagined seeing a PlayStation game appearing on a Windows PC but now it’s becoming more and more common place.

First, we saw Guerilla’s Horizon Zero Dawn make the leap from PlayStation to PC, then we were graced with Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding (although HZD was a rough port at launch that required a fair bit of work to get it working properly). Now, it’s the turn of Days Gone PC, a zombie-filled adventure across a post-apocalyptic American mid-west, starring grizzled biker Deacon St John. It’s a technical marvel that really show cases what is possible with PC gaming.

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Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, PS5 Review

Insomniac Games has to be an absolute Golden Goose for Sony. In 2019 they paid a mere $230 million for a AAA studio that consistently and more importantly quickly, churns out top quality games.

Only 7 months after helping the PS5 launch with Spider-Man: Miles Morales. Insomniac have dropped a new PS5 exclusive – Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart…and as expected.

It is a stunning example of a top tier studio putting powerful next-gen hardware to work.

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Returnal, Review (PS5)

I have always hated games from the Rogue-Like genre. The lack of progression, the severe penalty for simple mistakes and if I’m honest, the feeling of games just being unfair. It does nothing for me.

Well…the genius’s at Housemarque have found the perfect Rogue-Like recipe. Cooking up a beautifully atmospheric, AAA quality, frenetic shooter.

In fact, at this stage of the year Returnal currently sits atop my Game of the Year list for 2021.

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Nier: Replicant, Byte Size Review

Nier: Automata arrived on the scene in 2017 and became an instant cult classic. Square Enix have as a result, seen fit to put some spit ‘n’ polish on the original Japanese version of Nier: Replicant, released in Japan in 2010.

Neir: Replicant ver.1.22474487139 … is a “Version Upgrade” bringing Replicant up to 60fps, adding a full voice cast and importantly modernised combat, akin to the brilliant Automata.

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The Nioh Collection, Review (PS5)

The word “Remaster” tends to go hand in hand with a console generation change. Sony and Team Ninja have seen fit to take advantage of the grunt in the new PS5 and give us a spit ‘n’ polished Nioh 1 & 2 in “The Nioh Collection”.

I for one don’t tend to find a lot of joy in the soulslike space, but the wider contribution these types of titles have made to video gaming cannot be ignored.

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