The original Halo has always been held in high regard, which is perhaps why Master Chief devotees were surprised to see the freshly remade Halo: Campaign Evolved obtain a handful of 7/10 review scores.
Without its multiplayer component, critics felt that a vital part of the experience was missing. Technical issues reportedly drag it down too, while the three new missions pale in comparison to the standard set by the original all those years ago. Currently, the Metacritic sits at 81%, which while respectable, is a slight fall from grace. One thing critics can agree on is that it looks incredible, very much being an UE5 showcase.
Fantasy fans are very well catered for this week. There’s the treasure seeking online extraction ARPG Mistfall Hunter (pictured above), a re-release of Gothic Classic, the promising Asian folklore inspired role-player The Relic: First Guardian, pixel art dungeon crawler Dungeon Antiqua, and Verho – Curse of Faces – which is inspired by From Software’s King’s Field series.
Mistfall Hunter promises to reward skill – no pay to win elements will be present. You’re able to play solo or team up with three others, with six characters available and switchable weapon sets to deal with whatever emerges from the titular mist.
Voidtrain alights on PS5, too, involving kitting out an interdimensional locomotive while improving your arsenal. It supports up to four players online. The Xbox Series version, from 2025, appears to have gone down reasonably well. Forever Skies meanwhile makes its Xbox debut, being a sci-fi survival shooter, as does the superhero workplace comedy Dispatch.
If you haven’t had your fill of Survivor-style auto-shooters yet, there’s the Pokémon-influenced Shard Squad – which sees fantasy creatures evolve and gain new elemental powers to defeat waves of enemies. There’s the Snake-inspired Mechaconda too, which should be an auto-shooter, but for whatever reason isn’t, as you need to bash the ‘X’ button to fire. We awarded it a 6/10 last week, finding it quite unforgiving.
Shoot’em up fans will want to check out Truxton Extreme – a sequel 38 years in the making, due physically and at retail. The gimmick here is the ability to overcharge weapons, filling the screen with bullets and explosions. It packs in a lot of content and modes too, including a three-arc story told using comic book panels.
Then there’s the short horror The Green Light, urban top-down shooter Kusan: City of Wolves, the mystery-solving Case Solved: The London Files, diorama-based puzzler Sizeable, watchful kingdom builder The King is Watching, cosy plant shop management sim Leafy Corner, and the pixel art climbing adventure Turnip Mountain – which reminds us of the GBA’s DK: King of Swing.
New release trailers
Halo: Campaign Evolved
Mistfall Hunter
Gothic Classic
The King is Watching
Truxton Extreme
The Green Light
Case Solved: The London Files
Dungeon Antiqua
Kusan: City of Wolves
Retrace the Light
The Relic: First Guardian
Forever Skies
Sizeable
Wake Up, Lia!
Turnip Mountain
Leafy Corner
Voidtrain
Verho – Curse of Faces
Mechaconda
Shard Squad
Blue Reflection Quartet
Nightmare Shift
New multiformat releases
- Halo: Campaign Evolved
- Mistfall Hunter
- Gothic Classic
- The King is Watching
- Truxton Extreme
- The Relic: First Guardian
- The Green Light
- Case Solved: The London Files
- Dungeon Antiqua
- Kusan: City of Wolves
- Retrace The Light
- Sizeable
- Wake Up, Lia!
- Turnip Mountain
- Mechaconda
- Shard Squad
- Leafy Corner
- Bee With Gun
- hyperdrive inn
- Waterpark Simulator
- Verho – Curse of Faces
- Zombie Graveyard Simulator
- PAW Patrol: Dino World
New on PSN
- Far Lands
- Voidtrain
- BloodRayne: Definitive Collection
- Blue Reflection Quartet
- Volcano Princess
New on Xbox Store
- Dispatch
- Forever Skies
- Nightmare Shift
- Redtail Relic Rush
- Corsair Cove
- Truck-kun is Supporting Me from Another World?!
- Get Them Out! (Xbox Series)
- 4 The Elements
- Railway Routes
- Angel Engine
- HARDWIRED: Ghost In The Reset
New Switch retail releases
eShop round-up coming Thursday
- Truxton Extreme – Switch 2
- PAW Patrol: Dino World – Switch 2
- PAW Patrol: Dino World
- Kusan: City of Wolves
- Eden Genesis
- Pampas & Selene
Next week: MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls, Beast of Reincarnation, Big Walk, Grizzy & the Lemmings: Crazy Party, Tailbreak, Detective Holmes: Hidden Objects, Ironforged, Kynseed, SlipVector, Mate’Morphosis, Gunstoppable, Yellowcreek Stories – The Cabin Watcher, Feudal Baron: King’s Land (PS5), Montabi, Parkasaurus: Dinoluxe Edition, and Monsters Are Coming!