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“Variations on a theme” is a phrase I’ve employed to describe the games of Hidetaka Miyazaki, but it’s all a bit more complicated with Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. It shares ample DNA with the games that made Miyazaki famous—Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls, and Bloodborne—but it’s also much more distinct. Any particular SoulsBorne game is unique, but looks and plays basically like the others. Sekiro doesn’t. The result is a game that revels in its surprises while nonetheless feeling familiar as an old shoe, or a loyal dog that bites. Hard.

Captain’s Log, Supplemental

After a brief detour to a strange planet populated by sentient, shape-changing robots, I return to my original mission.  Will I find what I seek in the star systems controlled by the entity called “Activision”?

Today, I did something I didn’t think I would end up doing this year. Like millions of other gamers around the world, I went into a shop and bought Call of Duty: Black Ops. Why is this strange? Well, it isn’t really, but up until today I’d managed to suppress any desire whatsoever to play Activision’s latest blockbuster. Not for any particular reason. Don’t get me wrong, there are countless reasons why any one person would wish …

If there’s a scenario that defines the phrase “Egg on Your Face,” the opening days sales totals for the much celebrated Rock Band 3 are probably it. Having told Eurogamer “It’s possible that sales of other games in the category are down because people are waiting to spend their money on Rock Band 3” in an interview last week, project director Daniel Sussman may be feeling a little red faced this evening. In case you’re …

How do you solve the problem of updating one of the most revered console franchises of all time and making it relevant for a whole new generation of consoles and gamers? Personally I’d suggest the best way would be to just not bother, avoiding desecrating the memory in the process, but Activision would clearly disagree. According to Eurogamer, Activision are all set to reveal GoldenEye at this years E3, which kicks off in Los Angeles …

There comes a time in the life of every gaming girl and boy when we just hit a wall within a video game. It may be an individual game or an entire franchise, and it may even be something we’ve enjoyed playing immensely for several weeks, months or years. It might not even happen within every game we play, nor is it necessarily restricted to typically “bad” games. Make no mistake however that once that …