GameSpot Reviews

Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter finally addresses a major dilemma for newcomers considering getting into Falcom's epic industrial fantasy saga. While the Trails series has consisted of different arcs set in different parts of the continent of Zemuria that you could start from, when its overarching storyline and continuity spans titles released over two decades, where better to begin than the very first chapter?Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter successfully remakes the game and brings it in line with the standards of a Trails game in 2025, while preserving its original story. This is not a bloated reimagining--Trails titles...

Assassin's Creed has long focused each of its stories on a central theme. Almost every aspect of Odyssey's main campaign and dozens of side quests deal with legacy, for example, while Valhalla's lengthy story largely centers around fate. Assassin's Creed Shadows is far less defined, with protagonists Naoe and Yasuke's journey across 16th-century Japan primarily being about found family, but delving into revenge and honor as well. Thematically, it's been the weakest narrative theme of the larger, more RPG-focused Assassin's Creed games, muddied by the main story's aimless second act.Those same problems persist in Shadows' first major story-driven expansion, Claws...

There are so many great co-op experiences to be had right now that my biggest issue isn't finding something to play with my wife or kids, it's finding enough time to play them all. But I'm glad I made the time for Lego Voyagers, because it's the sort of game that is immediately, obviously special, and culminates in a beautiful final few minutes that made my kids and me care deeply for a simple pair of Lego bricks.Lego Voyagers is a two-player co-op game, so there's no solo mode, nor can you pair up with a bot partner. Played online...

A direct sequel to Borderlands 3, Borderlands 4 aims to rectify the various issues of its predecessor--namely, the overreliance on cringe jokes, overly talkative main villains, and bullet-sponge boss battles. And while these issues are addressed, it may have been an overcorrection as Borderlands 4 is cranked so far in the other direction that the resulting game feels like a strange imitation of the series. The core bread and butter of the franchise--rewarding looting and satisfying shooting--remains the same, delivering hours of solid first-person shooter gameplay. The narrative elements, however, are weaker than ever.Like its predecessors, Borderlands 4 sees you...

At around four to five hours in length, calling The Order of Giants bite-sized doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Within the context of the rest of Indiana Jones and The Great Circle, however, that's precisely what this DLC feels like.The base game is at its best when you're dropped into an extensive playground and left to your own devices, whether it's a maze of undulating rivers in Sukhothai or a stretch of desert surrounding the pyramids of Giza. Donning Indy's signature hat and exploring these dense locations is a treat, with each level meticulously detailed and focused on...

It's funny to see how much the topic of sweat has become a joke in the NBA 2K series. As far back as when the series first came to Xbox 360, I can recall players calling out the life-like perspiration seen on its in-game athletes. Today, that dedication to depicting authentic sweat is sometimes used to critique the game. Players will say--perhaps only half-jokingly--that Visual Concepts is too concerned with sweat and not focusing enough on other aspects of the annual basketball sim. In reality, I don't know of another sports gaming studio team that sweats the small stuff quite...

Coming off the Silent Hill 2 remake, the biggest question I had for Bloober Team was whether the studio had fully reversed course. Once a developer of middling or worse horror games, Silent Hill 2 was a revelation. But it was also the beneficiary of a tremendously helpful blueprint: The game it remade was a masterpiece to begin with. Could the team make similar magic with a game entirely of its own creation?Cronos: The New Dawn tells me it can. While it doesn't achieve the incredible heights of the Silent Hill 2 remake, Cronos earns its own name in the...

If you're bothered by a world map littered with quest icons or the thought of being shepherded through an adventure rather than unravelling it instinctually, the freedom that Hell is Us promises will immediately draw you in. It's evident every time you boot up the game, with a tooltip reminding you that you'll get no quest markers, no world map, and no hints as to where to go next while you explore its world. This promise is kept throughout its campaign, although how challenging this makes it overall is less impactful than you might think. Hell is Us definitely demands...

Kirby and the Forgotten Land + Star Crossed World occupies a strange space in the spate of Switch 2 upgrades. Its upgrades to the original game are relatively modest, offering small performance improvements to a game that already ran well in the first place. But its new content is among the most expansive, consisting of a new mini-campaign that threads itself through original stages and culminates in even tougher challenges than in the main game. It doesn't revitalize the experience in the same way that the Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom upgrades do on Switch...