Take-Two has no plans to bring new games to Game Pass.

Microsoft announced in May that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 would be available on Xbox Game Pass from launch day on October 25th. The Xbox parent company seems to be hoping that the popular first-person shooter’s release on the service will boost Game Pass subscriber numbers. Microsoft took a big gamble by bringing Call of Duty to Game Pass, but don’t expect major third-party studios to follow suit . Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick said that bringing Call of Duty to Game Pass could attract new subscribers to the service “for a period of time,” but the company has no plans to do the same with new AAA titles.

In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Zelnick said that including major titles like Call of Duty at launch could boost Game Pass sales for a while. “If you offer flagship titles at a premium price in a subscription service, I think that will drive consumers to that subscription service, at least for a period of time,” he said.

But the Take-Two president has no plans to put any of the company’s upcoming titles on Game Pass. “No, that doesn’t influence our decisions, because our decisions are rational,” Zelnick said .

Zelnick’s comments came after Take-Two reported first-quarter earnings, reporting net orders of $1.22 billion (Rs. 1,024.2 crore ), slightly below analyst expectations of $1.25 billion (Rs. 1,049.4 crore ) . However, the company expects net orders to rise in fiscal 2026 and fiscal 2027, with the release of the highly-anticipated Grand Theft Auto 6 scheduled for next year.

the game’s release date to fall 2025 .

The company is preparing to launch its upcoming sequel, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, on October 25th. Microsoft confirmed in May that the new game would be the first Call of Duty title available on Game Pass at launch.

Days after the announcement, Xbox’s parent company increased the price of Game Pass across all tiers and regions, and introduced a new “Standard” tier that doesn’t include launch-day titles.

The post Take-Two CEO: Call of Duty Will Boost Xbox Game Pass Temporarily appeared first on Review Products.

Often left me peachless.

Endlessly creative and adorably cute, Princess Peach: Showtime! is an uncompromising but approachable adventure that’s an absolute blast for kids and adults alike.

Pros

• +Adorable visuals
• +Fantastic boss fights
• +Approachable difficulty

Cons

• -A slow start
• -Occasionally choppy performance

Princess Peach: Showtime! is an action-adventure game that’s overflowing with the boundless creativity and charm characteristic of some of the best recent mainline Super Mario outings like Super Mario Odyssey and Super Mario Bros. Wonder. Despite its more linear design and basic control scheme compared to those games, it’s packed with memorable stages and mechanics that make the most of the charming theatrical theme in truly imaginative ways.

The simplicity means that it’s one of the most approachable first-party games on Nintendo Switch making it a super choice for younger or more casual players, though seasoned gamers will still find plenty to enjoy in its brilliant boss fights and tricky challenge modes. Wrap it all up in an attractive art direction and throw in a raft of collectibles hidden throughout each stage and you’ve got an impressively well-rounded package that ranks among some of the best Nintendo Switch games available to play right now.

Setting The Stage

Princess Peach: Showtime!

The action kicks off in the sprawling Sparkle Theater, nestled in the little bay far from the Mushroom Kingdom where Princess Peach has been trapped by the malevolent Madame Grape and her legion of purple minions. Grape has corrupted the theater’s plays with her malign influence and caused all of the lead actors to disappear, leaving it up to Peach and the theater’s magical guardian Stella to save the day. It’s a simple setup that is conveyed through an introductory cutscene that is lavishly animated but rather jarringly relies on text dialogue rather than any kind of audio narration.

Still, it’s only a minor omission that is quickly forgotten once you’re thrust into the hub world of the theater’s foyer. It’s divided into five floors, each containing doors leading to different levels, and sits above a mysterious basement. There are thirty main stages in total, arranged into groups of three with each trio representing the entirety of a specific play. They’re spread out evenly across the floors, though each ends with a final stage that is accessed through the basement.

The plays all follow unique themes, ranging from a lighthearted Wild West romp to more unconventional additions like a sci-fi action thriller. They’re all brought to life by the cartoon-like visuals that are filled to the brim with theatrical details and flourishes. The scenery has a distinctly hand-crafted look, with floating clouds that are suspended from visible wires. They cast prominent shadows on the backdrops behind them which, while a simple effect, helps lend everything a wonderful sense of depth.

Despite the side-on perspective, stages are also fully three dimensional and allow for back-and-forth movement in addition to side-scrolling traversal. Bright cones of stage lighting highlight important objectives and follow Peach as you explore – likely to be a huge help for players who are less experienced in traversing 3D environments. This, in addition to an optional item that grants three extra lives and can be obtained from a non-player character (NPC) in the foyer, intelligently incorporates more forgiving elements in a manner that feels both natural and unintrusive.

Dress Rehearsal

Aside from the rare brief platforming segment, the overall pace of Princess Peach: Showtime! is more pedestrian than more traditional Super Mario adventures. Peach has slow movement speed and all of her actions are controlled entirely with just three buttons. You tap the A button to jump, hit the B button to interact, and occasionally press ZL or ZR in order to travel to secret areas when you’re standing on special spots hidden throughout each level.

In her default getup, Peach is armed with a magical ribbon that can defeat Grape’s minions, trigger key items like lamps or doors to progress, or inspire any dejected supporting actors that you stumble across. Running around mindlessly tapping that button on almost everything that you see isn’t the most engaging or subtle formula and the very early sections of the first few stages suffer as a result.

You’re soon given a transformation, however, which is where Princess Peach: Showtime! is at its absolute best. Modeled after the costumes of the missing lead actors, each play has its own unique transformation that grants Peach a wide range of special abilities. Every new arrival feels remarkably distinct, spicing up the basic formula with elements drawn from entirely different genres. The Ninja Peach transformation, for example, incorporates elements of stealth games, allowing you to hide in tall grass and quietly take down unsuspecting foes with a quick kunai slash.

The Detective Peach transformation plays much more like a story-driven adventure, where you solve crimes by chatting to NPCs and using your magnifying glass to track down hidden clues. The Mermaid Peach transformation is something akin to a puzzle game, as you guide schools of fish through maze-like gauntlets under increasingly strict time limits. Although I enjoyed my time with each and every transformation, the button-mashing cookie baking and rapid cake decoration challenges of the Patissiere Peach transformation were a personal highlight that absolutely oozed that Mario Party minigame charm.

Unfortunately, some transformations do push the game’s uneven technical performance to the fore. Loading times are long and a few levels suffer from noticeable framerate dips in busy moments. By far the worst example was one particular Figure Skater Peach stage that involved careful timing to pull off ice skating tricks. The choppy framerate made it frustratingly difficult to get into a definite rhythm and caused me to miss a fair few jumps the first time around which is disappointing, especially in a first-party release.

BEST BIT

Not only are the appearances of each of Peach’s transformations very cutely designed, but they feature distinct animations that further help set them apart. I especially appreciate Patissiere Peach’s adorable little back-and-forth skip whenever you stand still.

This shortcoming aside, each floor concludes with a boss fight, all of which are definite highlights. The boss designs are memorable and each encounter involves some strong mechanics. One sees you defeating a genuinely quite creepy projector-themed cat as it tries to swat you away with attacks that are represented by 2D projected images, while another has a giant disco-ball bird that can flip the entire stage into its mirror image in order to crush you with falling blocks. There are also separate challenge levels, called rehearsals, that offer reimagined versions of past stages with difficult special conditions. These are some of the hardest challenges in the game and make for a delightful diversion.

The same is true of the unlockable outfits for both Peach and Stella, which can be purchased from a small stall in the foyer using hidden stars collected from each level, obtained by rescuing a top-hat-wearing character hidden in each level, or are awarded for finishing certain stages. There are loads to discover, giving you plenty of reasons to comb over past environments for anything that you might have missed.

It’s a fantastic way to round out an overall package that’s already got plenty to offer. Whether you’re a long-time Super Mario fan or a complete newcomer to the series, Princess Peach: Showtime! is an excellent adventure that’s easy to recommend.

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Roll To Win.

Dicefolk is a fun turn-based roguelike with a decent variety of environments and characters to stay entertaining, but the content itself becomes repetitive. Although excitement is added through boss encounters and the gamble of random rolls, the repetition holds Dicefolk back from excelling.

Pros

• +Huge variety of quirky creatures to tame
• +Boss battles keep combat exciting
• +Expansive map with different biomes to explore

Cons

• -Loop becomes a bit repetitive
• -I’m always incredibly unlucky

Dicefolk, a roguelike from Leap Game Studios, puts you into the shoes of a determined summoner, responsible for an army of chimera. These are the creatures that litter the entire map and that you aim to recruit into your own party to then train and take into battle. Similarly to Pokémon, these beasts adopt a huge variety of appearances, and anything from a potted plant to a huge dragon could spring to life. You never know what type of chimera is waiting around the corner, but it’s always your job to wrangle them.

However, rather than sending your chimera into battle like Pokémon, the game takes a unique approach to every instance of combat. Although you are somewhat in control, your entire turn is based on a dice roll. So, you always have to hope and pray that lady luck is on your side and you have a solid enough roll of your three dice to take down whatever beasties you come up against.

A Roll of the Dice

Dicefolk’s combat is incredibly fluid. You take control of your team of three chimeras you recruit along your journey. At the start, you begin with three incredibly weak creatures that offer little to no power, but the further you travel around the map, the stronger the chimera you can recruit at statues positioned around the map for your next bought of combat. Each encounter needs to be carefully planned out to ensure your success through tactical rotations of party members, and well-timed attacks. However, you don’t have the same abilities – such as a ranged attack, or the ability to rotate – each turn. Instead, every round is controlled by the roll of three dice.

I’m not the luckiest person when it comes to anything, really, and this losing streak continued during my experience with Dicefolk. More often than not, my rolls gave me ranged attacks that caused less damage and team rotations rather than the option to strengthen my team by bulking up before attacking. Of course, this isn’t the game’s fault as these rolls are entirely random, but I couldn’t help but feel like it became a bit of a personal attack after a while.

BEST BIT: Dicefolk

The unknown factor of not knowing what you’re about to encounter is easily the best part of Dicefolk. I was always excited to see what creatures would crop up in the next combat encounter, heightening a sense of anticipation.

However, this infrequent success makes combat feel tense and also encourages you to be careful and deliberate rather than rushing in with all guns blazing. When you start in Dicefolk, it’s incredibly easy to be hasty when attacking your enemies, and you can be overly reliant on a few attacks from only one of your chimeras rather than utilizing your whole team. But, as you progress through the map and enter different biomes that are littered with increasingly intimidating creatures, taking your time with encounters, thinking about your moves, and which members of your party are worth bringing to battle becomes incredibly important.

Across the map, you’ll encounter a huge range of critters that you’ll have to face which keeps combat exciting and fresh. This is a major attraction of Dicefolk as you never know what you’ll find, heightening the game’s concept of everything being a gamble. The character design makes up a huge part of the game’s charm, too, and helps make the first experience fighting many of the beasties more enchanting. One moment you’ll be fighting a small, seaweed-clad dog called Algel, but then you’ll have an encounter with a towering koala-esque beast rather than fighting the same thing over and over again.

However, adding another layer to the combat, your ability to control chimeras isn’t limited to your own team. You also take control of the enemy side, allowing you to decide and plan out what attacks impact your team. This occasionally enables you to give yourself the upper hand, sacrificing your weaker chimera against enemies with stronger attacks and giving yourself an opening to hit back twice as hard in your next turn. Although this isn’t always the case, it does feel rewarding when you do factor enemy moves in and manage to tactically plan four turns in advance, finally pulling off a master heist and taking the win.

Jack of all Trades

It’s not all random dice rolls and crossing fingers in combat though, and there’s a lot of work that goes into Dicefolk outside of just attacks. Across the map, you’ll find shops to buy equipment and armor that provide different buffs to your party of chimera, as well as statues that you can visit to recruit new chimera to join your adventure. Each creature brings unique abilities and skills to the table, so it pays to familiarize yourself with the capabilities of your companions to ensure you’re taking advantage of any moves that could help you take down enemies.

Rewards from particularly challenging battles provide an incentive to continue pushing through combat, since, much like the various species you’ll recruit along the way, you never know what reward could be waiting for you. Overall, it’s a pretty familiar loop of  ‘battle a beast, get a reward, move on to the next bit’, but the surprise of not really knowing what’s to come is the thing that’ll keep drawing you through Dicefolk.

Prepare For The Worst

The numerous bosses are where your army will really be tested. Like any other battle, you’ll still take control of enemy attacks as you would your own, but these boss fights tend to offer a bigger challenge than your standard enemy encounter since each boss occupies one of the dice rolls with a special die.

Although this roll does have a similar formula to other enemies, with the possibility to offer an attack, defense, or random rotation, generally the attacks are frenzied and rotations tend to prioritize bringing the boss chimera to the front of the party. If there’s time to plan your next move carefully, it would be during these significantly harder battles especially since the boss dice roll will offer harder attacks than the others and thus cause more damage to your party.

If you’ve been playing it safe, breezing through chimera encounters, then these boss battles will feel like a significant jump up in difficulty.  These encounters are where planning your next move and utilizing whatever armor or equipment you’ve picked up along the way is at its most important. If you fail and three of your chimera faint then you’ll have to start building your army from scratch once again from the ground up.

ACCESSIBILITY FEATURES: Dicefolk

Unfortunately, Dicefolk offers no dedicated accessibility options, which is disappointing. Considering how much on-screen text there is, being unable to adjust the size of this text may impact some player’s experience.

Generally, Dicefolk is simple in its premise, yet still provides an entertaining experience that is bound to appeal to anyone who loves luck-based combat encounters and quirky characters. Rewards and charming characters offer you the drive to keep you plowing through each environment and map, and combat is just exciting enough with the reliance on luck to stay fun.

As a result, there’s always something that’ll have you excited to keep exploring and to see what comes next, or how you can approach battles slightly differently for a more positive outcome. All in, this makes for a satisfying, albeit occasionally repetitive, experience.

The post Dicefolk Review – Luck Be a Lady Tonight appeared first on Review Products.

Cheap and accessible server hosting for all abilities.

Shockbyte demonstrates how far game server hosting has come, proving to be highly accessible with a plethora of tutorials and clearly laid out options. Even better, it’s keenly priced with server options that suit every budget.

Pros

• +Simple to use setup
• +Well priced
• +Reliable servers
• +Varied plans available

Cons

• -72-hour refund policy is a little limited
• -Occasionally sluggish support

Founded in March 2013, Shockbyte’s mission statement has been to offer “premium services at unbeatable prices” and it mostly meets those lofty goals. The Australian-based company is now one of the longest-running Minecraft server hosting providers. While it’s expanded its services to other games such as Project Zomboid, ARK: Survival Evolved and — most recently — Palworld, Minecraft is the big one here and the one we reviewed.

Promising 13 server locations scattered around the world, 24/7 customer support, 100% uptime, full FTP access, and support for pretty much every mod you can think of, Shockbyte sounds pretty irresistible on paper. With an eye on whether it could be one of the best Minecraft server hosting providers, here’s how we found the Shockbyte experience from setup to playing on the server.

PLANS AND PRICING

Shockbyte offers 12 different plans, plus a custom plan if you have specific needs. All the plans offer 24/7 customer support, 100% uptime, full FTP access, DDoS protection, and full mod support. Where plans differ is how much RAM they offer as well as the number of player slots. There’s good variety here with the option to upgrade any time as needed. To help customers know what to buy starting out, Shockbyte also has a few recommended plans for certain needs such as best for modding or the latest version.

The cheapest plan is the Dirt plan with 1GB RAM and 8 player slots at $2.50 per month. That ramps up to the Titan plan at $40 per month with 16GB of RAM and unlimited player slots with a 300 recommendation. Discounts are available for committing to quarterly, six monthly, or annual plans.

Such a discount means the Dirt plan drops to just $22.50 for the year which works out as excellent value for teaming up with your mates on a private server. All servers use NVMe SSDs with unlimited disk space and bandwidth. Deciding which plan to buy mostly comes down to how many players you expect to play at once and RAM considerations.

Shockbyte offers a 72 hour refund policy so there’s just enough time to test things out if you’ve made a mistake with your needs. Payment is accepted via credit or debit card along with PayPal and Paymentwall methods. While signing up, you can choose to add on a preferred location, purchase a dedicated IP, and arrange server management options, all for a fee. That means the price can increase a fair bit depending on what you need with features like a dedicated IP costing $5 per month while server management costs $15 per month. While the cost can ramp up, at least it’s fairly clearly laid out so you always know what you’re paying for and why.

EASE OF USE

Starting out with a Minecraft server with Shockbyte is pretty speedy. Once you wrap up the purchasing process, you’re given two username/password combos. One is for the client side of things while the other is for the control panel. Access to the latter can then be shared with other users who you want to have control over things, although you’ll need to get in touch with support to get it set up.

The opening part of the control panel has you able to choose the server type you want. A near never ending choice of Bedrock or Java server types are available with recommendations highlighted.

On the left hand side is the more complex set of options as well as the best ways to monitor your server. Chat and console are fairly self explanatory with the latter a good way of dipping in to check all is well.

Dive into the Files section and that’s where things get a little more complicated. The Config Files section offers server settings such as if you want to set up whitelisting, change the game mode or difficulty, as well as disable or limit various settings. It’s clearly laid out with drop-down boxes allowing you to quickly change things. The responsiveness is fast with the majority of actions not requiring a server restart although Shockbyte recommends doing so once a day.

If you want to add any modpacks or plugins, the Shockbyte interface is simple to use. There are a lot of plugins to choose from while you can use full FTP access to add anything that hasn’t already been thought of. Again, adding from the plugin list is straightforward and takes moments. It’s all designed in a way that makes the process as simple as possible, even if you don’t have prior server admin experience.

For those users who do have more advanced experience, there’s an appropriately titled Advanced tab too. Here, you can set up commands, scheduled tasks, add additional ports, startup parameters and MySQL databases. It’s reasonably comprehensive stuff that means Shockbyte is fairly good at catering for both novice users that simply want the basics right up to those who know exactly what they’re doing.

SPEED AND EXPERIENCE

Shockbyte offers servers across Europe, North America, Singapore and Australia, with the latter two requiring an additional payment each month. The Minecraft server I used was based in Europe, much like myself, and I found the ping to be pretty reliable. A steady 30-35 ping meant no issues with lag and that continued while adding players to the server.

As promised by Shockbyte, there was no downtime either with the Minecraft server always ready to go. It’s a reliable force for regular players.

During my time playing on the server and gathering together some friends, the experience didn’t dip in quality. Daily restarts and not cramming the server with mods and plugins is sure to help here but as a general, standard Minecraft experience, it works well out of the virtual box. That’s also where the level of ease involved in adding or removing mods, as well as simply restarting the server certainly helps keep things ticking along healthily.

SUPPORT

Support is two-fold with a ticketing system and extensive tutorials. The tutorials are the true standout here. It feels like there’s a YouTube video for literally everything you could possibly need while setting up a Minecraft server. A full playlist is available or you can dip in for individual queries. Each tutorial is clearly laid out and no longer than it has to be. Whether you simply need guidance on which server type to choose from or you want to set spawns, manage whitelists, or learn how scheduled tasks can benefit you, it’s covered here with no padded out filler.

It’s a truly useful resource with things backed up by a Knowledge Base which answers many queries, followed by direct support. When I contacted support by sending off a ticket, I was impressed to get a response within an hour. The follow up, however, took a fair while longer. Cynically, paying helps. It’s possible to pay $3 to bump your ticket to the front of the queue which feels a little unsavoury but on the other hand, Shockbyte is pretty cheap elsewhere.

Talking of payments, it’s also possible to pay $15 per month for the company to manage your server including controlling and setting up mods and plugins. With the many tutorials available, it’s hardly necessary for most people but it could be useful when starting out.

Knowledgebase

Shockyte’s knowledgebase has plenty of helpful tutorials and the company’s YouTube channel also provides a wealth of videos to help you get started (Image credit: Shockbyte)

FINAL VERDICT

Shockbyte is an excellent value way to snap up a Minecraft server that isn’t much hassle to set up and maintain. Ideally suited for novices but also anyone who wants to keep costs down, you can get straight on with setting up your Minecraft server pretty quickly, right down to installing some mods or plugins without having to delve too deeply.

Where things falter is a bit, is the added costs and occasional support quibbles. A little inconsistent with speed isn’t a dealbreaker for everyone when it comes to needing assistance from support and the YouTube videos certainly help, but if you run into a major problem, feeling obliged to pay an extra $3 will grate.

Similarly, added costs for features like a dedicated IP or server management are transparent but something to be aware of when totting up the actual price you’ll be paying.

Neither of these issues will affect everyone though and for the most part, Shockbyte works well. Its 100% uptime and speedy servers mean you and your mates will easily be able to join in at any time without any problems. It fits nicely into that ‘it just works’ mentality that everyone appreciates about technology. It also makes the process far more accessible than server management ever was in the past.

The post Shockbyte Minecraft Hosting Review appeared first on Review Products.

I need a key.

Alone in the Dark squanders the promise of its compelling source material with ropey design, awful combat, and choppy presentation.

Pros

• +Strong voice acting
• +Compelling Lovecraftian themes
• +Deep worldbuilding

Cons

• -Awful action setpieces
• -Shoddy graphics

Despite a spirited commitment to themes of cosmic horror, Alone in the Dark stumbles, hamstrung by dodgy presentation, poorly executed combat setpieces, and obtuse design.

A reincarnation of the seminal 1992 horror classic of the same name, Alone in the Dark follows the stories of Emily Hartwood and private investigator Edward Carnby as the pair investigate the mysterious disappearance of Emily’s uncle, Jeremy Hartwood. Following in the footsteps of modern horror titans, Alone in the Dark opts for a third-person over-the-shoulder perspective as you explore its bleak and foreboding environments.

Set in the 1920s, Alone in the Dark pays constant homage to the works of the influential yet problematic H.P. Lovecraft. The game’s characters are locked in a fight for survival with forces beyond their comprehension, whose supernatural powers warp and undermine the protagonists’ understanding of reality. It’s when developer Pieces Interactive leans into this storytelling tradition that Alone in the Dark is at its strongest.

Traditionally, Lovecraftian fiction is all about unraveling mysteries – the answers to which offer sanity-straining revelations that pull the protagonists deeper into a horror-fuelled cosmic morass. It’s fitting, then, that puzzle-solving is the core around which the game is based. On arriving at Derceto, a hundred-year-old manor in the swamps of Louisiana, Emily and Edward immediately set to work getting to the bottom of Jeremy Hardwood’s disappearance.

Thinking your way through Alone in the Dark’s puzzles often feels rewarding

Now a sanatorium, Derceto is populated by an intriguing ensemble of outcasts, plenty of puzzles, and locked doors galore. The puzzles themselves are pleasing affairs, often requiring you to read documents, look around for environmental clues, and intuit solutions. One particularly impressive challenge early on involved opening a lockbox by cross-referencing the backs of important paintings with a poster and a mysterious journal. Some are more practical, however, like recovering an important clue from the bottom of a well by filling it with water. Thinking your way through Alone in the Dark’s puzzles often feels rewarding but, unfortunately, these setpieces struggle to shine in the shadow of numerous issues with presentation as well as dire action segments.

Muddy Waters

Fighting a monster in Alone in the Dark

Despite generally strong voice acting, Alone in the Dark’s characters are dogged with stilted animations and visuals. Emily and Edward look less like intrepid investigators and more like mannequins brought to life by exactly the sort of supernatural powers that the pair are trying to unearth in their investigation. Not even excellent performances by David Harbour and Jodie Comer (who play Edward and Emily, respectively) are sufficient to breathe life into their dead eyes.

Alone in the Dark often feels lopsided. The in-game documents and clues are lavish affairs, often with their own voice acting. It makes for immersive and compelling moments of investigation. However, this can’t be said for Alone in the Dark’s vocal direction overall. Protagonists will often repeat canned phrases and conversations with non-player characters are limited and stilted. During my first two hours with Alone in the Dark, Emily informed me that she needed a key over a dozen times, always in the same tone of voice and with the same, frustrated inflection. Effort noises are shamelessly repeated and begin to grate after a while, too. Even if the quality of the acting is impressive, this sort of repetition waters down proceedings, undermining the gravitas that Harbour and Comer might otherwise bring to the game.

BEST BIT

David Carnby speaks to a member of staff in the kitchen.

Combing through the fascinating, well-voiced diaries and documents found throughout Derceto Manor made me feel like a proper detective as I connected dots and made deductions.

The weakest aspect of Alone in the Dark by far is its combat sections. Clunky and unresponsive controls punctuate poorly designed combat setpieces. Figures covered in black slime will run towards you, and it’ll be your job to aim and shoot before they get too close. Molotov cocktails can be thrown at potential assailants, too, and these can be found in a surprisingly large number of locations. Ranged combat options feel imprecise and unfulfilling. The same can be said for melee, which feels like trying to mash a potato with a flimsy plastic fork and is about as satisfying too. You pick up a melee implement, hammer the attack buttons, and hope for the best, much as you do at range.

It seems as though Alone in the Dark’s combat system aims to ape the dramatic, over-the-shoulder action found in the likes of the Resident Evil 4 remake or Control. However, even if Alone in the Dark were to offer reliable and satisfying combat, it would still feel hugely out of place in what is, in essence, a game about solving mysteries and unraveling a conspiracy. This incompatibility serves only to make Alone in the Dark’s failed attempts at action combat seem all the more dire.

Puzzling Through

An ominous conversation in Alone in the Dark.

Despite all this, there is a gripping core of supernatural intrigue that runs through Alone in the Dark. As you begin to unearth more of the details surrounding Jeremy’s disappearance, you’ll be granted little motes of insight into Decerto Manor and its history. As you delve deeper, you’ll find that disparate threads begin to weave together. A name drop here or a little clue there can become invaluable later on.

ACCESSIBILITY FEATURES

Alone in the Dark options menu.

Alone in the Dark is unremarkable in its accessibility offerings but offers a few helpful settings. Camera shake options, text and map highlighting, and adjustable subtitles are all available. The game also provides two difficulty settings, one of which provides players with extra hints and clues. There are no dedicated settings for colorblind users.

Though Alone in the Dark’s more intriguing elements are buried deep, they are certainly present. The game encourages you to speculate and hypothesize, filling in blanks deliberately left by the developers. In many ways, this is the essence of effective horror games. At its best, Alone in the Dark lets your own imagination do the legwork, a process that’s far more gripping than any canned combat setpiece with a shadowy silhouette.

Unfortunately, Alone in the Dark is so burdened by flaws that this strength is rarely given a chance to shine. Hampering an already shaky presentation, Pieces Interactive’s offering suffers from bugs, too. For instance, it will sometimes be impossible to select certain entries in the game’s menu, and selecting an interactable object while not having the right item will bring up a glitchy silhouette of a radial selection menu.

Buried deep inside Alone in the Dark is a compelling Lovecraftian mystery. However, any prospective detective will have to wade through layers of presentational and mechanical obstacles. While Alone in the Dark will likely have something to offer long-time fans of the franchise, those looking for a fresh horror experience will almost certainly find something better elsewhere.

The post Alone In The Dark Review – No Escape appeared first on Review Products.

What has PSVR 2 got right and wrong?

Sony’s PSVR 2 has been available for just over a year now, originally launching on February 22, 2023. Thus we’ve had plenty of time to analyze the state of the PS5 exclusive VR headset; where it’s been, and where it’s going in the future. In short, it’s not been great, and it certainly doesn’t look good.

While an excellent bit of kit in its own right with specs that compete with some of the best VR headsets out there, things haven’t looked too bright on the software side of things. Its price remains a sticking point, too, especially as the Meta Quest 3 – a much more compelling headset right now – largely outclasses it in terms of both price and versatility.

But perhaps that’s a little unfair. Sony has, after all, recently announced that it’s been working on getting PSVR 2 compatible with PC – though in what capacity remains to be seen. As a result, though, this could mean that PSVR 2 has a decent life ahead of it. But at present, there’s simply very little reason to own Sony’s headset unless you’re desperate to play a relatively modest number of exclusive games.

Where are the exclusives?

Let’s begin at launch. PSVR 2 did have a fairly impressive launch line-up, spearheaded by Horizon: Call of the Mountain which I genuinely believe to be not only the best game in the series but an excellent VR exclusive in its own right. It’s a highly polished offering, featuring varied and energetic play paired with a slew of welcome accessibility options.

Unfortunately, most other PSVR 2 games at launch weren’t exclusive to the headset, and can also be found within the Meta Quest and Steam VR game libraries. These include Kayak VR, Townsmen VR, and Puzzling Places. All wonderful titles in their own right, just not what you’d call flagships or system sellers.

The headset did pick up steam somewhat in the following months, with fully-featured VR modes for Gran Turismo 7, Resident Evil Village, and Resident Evil 4. These were all free additions, too, baked right into the base games themselves. Following these, further VR exclusives launched in the form of Humanity, The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR, Synapse and C-Smash VRS.

So while PSVR 2’s exclusives line-up isn’t predominantly made up of PlayStation Studios titles, I don’t think the ‘lack of exclusives’ argument holds up quite as well now as it may have done half a year ago. Even though some experiences are complementary VR modes, I believe they can still be counted as their own thing, and as such there are plenty of exclusives to enjoy for PSVR 2 in 2024.

Recently, Sony confirmed that it’s testing support for “additional games on PC.” The announcement was quietly snuck into an official PlayStation Blog post, and the wording is quite vague. Among the best-case scenarios would be full parity with Steam VR titles.

That would mean having access to superb VR games like Half-Life: Alyx and Boneworks without needing to shell out for another headset like Valve Index. However, as PSVR 2 doesn’t have mixed reality (tech that imposes virtual elements over your real-world surroundings) support, such experiences likely won’t be available to it on PC.

Sony hopes to make this PC support available sometime in 2024, so PSVR 2 could have a bright future ahead of it away from PS5. However, that’s only one side of the coin. The other is potentially much bleaker, signaling an end for PSVR 2 support on its native console.

There is some evidence that this could be happening right now. Another recent harrowing round of layoffs saw Sony cut about 8% of its workforce; roughly 900 employees. Much of these were from studios like UK-based Firesprite, developer of the aforementioned Horizon: Call of the Mountain. Furthermore, PlayStation’s London Studio has been shuttered entirely. The developer had previously made VR projects like Blood & Truth and PlayStation VR Worlds. As a result, much of Sony’s VR talent has now been, or will be, let go.

While this doesn’t necessarily mean that we shouldn’t expect more first-party PSVR 2 exclusives, it’s a sign that Sony could be scaling back in-house software development for its VR headset.

The Meta-Phant in the room

The Meta Quest 3 and its controllers on a table next to a plant pot with a green fern in and a gold lamp

Easily the greatest threat to PSVR 2’s place in the market is the Meta Quest 3. And there are plenty of reasons as to why this is the case, and why the Quest 2 successor sits atop our best VR headsets list.

In terms of specs, PSVR 2 and Quest 3 are actually quite similar on paper. While I prefer PSVR 2’s vivid OLED display, Quest 3 has it beat in the resolution department coming in at 2,064 x 2,208 pixels per eye. This offers a slightly sharper image than PSVR 2’s 2,000 x 2,040. Elsewhere, both are capable of refresh rates up to 120Hz.

While both headsets feature a passthrough camera – making it easy to view your real-world surroundings at the touch of a button – it’s much more fleshed out on Quest 3. Meta’s headset supports mixed reality experiences which also makes it a better fit for productivity and leisure apps. There’s something of a trade-off here with PSVR 2, which has integrated eye tracking features that Quest 3 lacks. This lets you use your eyes as a cursor, or for various gameplay elements such as focusing on certain objects.

“there’s not much of a reason – at least right now – to purchase a PSVR 2 over a Meta Quest 3.”

Where Quest 3 really wins out, however, is in price and versatility. PSVR 2 will run you $549.99 / £529.99, a bit more than Quest 3’s retail price of $499.99 / £479.99. That doesn’t sound like much of a difference at first inspection, but it’s worth noting that, at present, PSVR 2 requires a PS5 in order to, well, function. As a result, the combined investment reaches the $1,000 / £1,000 threshold, and that’s before you’ve purchased any additional games or PSVR 2 accessories.

There’s no such restriction with Meta Quest 3. You buy the headset, and it can be used either standalone (wirelessly at that) or hooked up to your PC. It’s also compatible with Meta’s own game and app library, as well as that of Steam VR.

In conclusion, there’s not much of a reason – at least right now – to purchase a PSVR 2 over a Meta Quest 3. It’s possible that Sony is well aware of this, and could be cutting its losses by sunsetting official support and looking into PC compatibility. In fairness, being able to use PSVR 2 on both PS5 and PC would increase its value proposition exponentially. But I don’t think this will be enough; a slight price cut – perhaps something more in line with the Quest 3 – would make it even more appealing.

But until that time, the Quest 3 is a much better option if you’re getting into VR for the first time. Unless you’re desperate for that OLED display or bespoke eye tracking, the Quest 3 remains our headset of choice in 2024. There’s been highlights for PSVR 2, certainly, but as competing headsets offer more for less, it’s got a seemingly impossible second year ahead of it.

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