DLC Review · Purchased December 19, 2024 · $13.43 CAD via PSN
PlayStation Plus Essential. Photo: PlayStation Store
The Setup
A single month of PlayStation’s entry-level online subscription tier, required for online multiplayer access and monthly free game claims, purchased as a short-term top-up rather than a longer commitment.
The Review
There is genuinely not much to review about a subscription service doing exactly what a subscription service is supposed to do: it granted online access and monthly game claims for the month I paid for, without incident. The real lesson from this purchase is entirely about math rather than the service itself: paying month to month like this works out to meaningfully more per month than committing to PlayStation’s 12-month plan, which is a common subscription trap across basically every service in this category, not unique to PlayStation specifically.
What I Liked
Does exactly what it promises, no complaints about the service itself
Useful as a genuine short-term top-up if you only need a single month
What I Didn’t
Noticeably worse per-month value than committing to a longer subscription term
Easy to accidentally overpay if you use PS Plus regularly but keep buying single months out of habit
The Verdict
Rating: 3/5
Only makes sense as a genuine short-term top-up. If you use PS Plus regularly, the 12-month plan is meaningfully cheaper per month than paying monthly the way I did here.
Game Review · Purchased December 22, 2024 · $44.99 CAD via EB Games
Life is Strange: Double Exposure. Photo: PlayStation Store
The Setup
Double Exposure catches up with original Life is Strange protagonist Max Caulfield years after the first game, swapping the original’s time-rewind mechanic for a new parallel-timeline system: rather than rewinding a single reality, Max can shift her perception between two diverging versions of the same moment.
The Review
Having replayed the Remastered Collection earlier in the year specifically to prepare for this, I went in about as primed as a player can be, and the writing and voice work that made the original resonate are clearly still present here: grounded character moments, a strong sense of place, and performances that carry a lot of emotional weight. Where reception, and my own experience, landed more mixed was the central mystery plot and the new parallel-timeline mechanic itself, which several reviewers and I both felt was less tightly constructed than the elegant simplicity of the original’s rewind power.
It is a game that clearly wanted to evolve the formula rather than just repeat it, and I respect that instinct even where the execution did not fully land for me the way the original did over a decade of hindsight and cultural conversation behind it.
What I Liked
Strong writing and voice performances consistent with the series’ reputation
New setting and older Max give the story fresh emotional territory to explore
Genuine attempt to evolve rather than repeat the original’s mechanics
What I Didn’t
New parallel-timeline mechanic feels less tightly constructed than the original’s rewind system
Central mystery plot underwhelmed compared to the series’ past narrative highs
Best appreciated with real prior investment in the series
The Verdict
Rating: 3/5
For existing fans of the series, this is a worthwhile continuation, but if you are new to Life is Strange, start with the Remastered Collection first rather than jumping straight into this one.
DLC Review · Purchased December 21, 2024 · $41.93 CAD via PSN
The Casting of Frank Stone. Photo: Steam
The Setup
A standalone narrative horror game set within the Dead by Daylight universe, developed by Supermassive Games in the same branching-choice, cinematic style that defines their Dark Pictures Anthology work.
The Review
The Supermassive DNA is unmistakable throughout: strong atmosphere, solid voice acting, and a branching-choice structure that gives individual playthroughs a genuine sense of consequence. As the last purchase of my entire 2024 spreadsheet, it closed the year on a reasonably strong note, atmospherically at least. Where reception, including my own reaction, landed more mixed was on how well the story actually capitalized on its connection to Dead by Daylight’s established lore, several reviewers felt the link to that wider universe was more surface-level connective tissue than a substantive deep dive worth the price of entry for existing Dead by Daylight fans specifically hoping for real lore payoff.
What I Liked
Strong atmosphere and voice acting consistent with Supermassive’s other work
Branching choices give real weight to individual playthroughs
A solid horror narrative on its own terms
What I Didn’t
Connection to Dead by Daylight’s lore feels more surface-level than substantive
General narrative-horror fans without franchise attachment may want to wait for a discount
The Verdict
Rating: 3/5
Reasonable for horror and Dead by Daylight fans specifically looking for more narrative context on that universe, general narrative-game fans may want to wait for a sale before jumping in.
Hardware Review · Purchased December 9, 2024 · $1,075.18 CAD via EB Games
The PS5 Pro. Photo via Best Buy Canada.
This was the single biggest console purchase of my year, and it is also the one I have gone back and forth on the most while writing about it.
The Background
Sony announced the PS5 Pro in September 2024 with Canadian pricing set at $959.99 before tax, positioning it as a mid-generation refresh rather than a true next console: better and more consistent ray tracing, higher and steadier frame rates in supported titles, and a beefed-up GPU, all while keeping the same basic PS5 software ecosystem and game library rather than starting over. It also ships with a built-in 2TB SSD, up from the base model’s smaller drive, which mattered to me given how quickly modern installs eat through storage.
I picked mine up at EB Games in early December, and the total I paid ($1,075.18) reflects tax plus whatever accessory or bundle got attached at checkout on top of that base $959.99 price. By the time I bought in, launch week chaos had settled and stock was reasonably available, which was one small mercy in an otherwise expensive month.
Living With It
The honest starting point here is that the PS5 Pro is a real, measurable upgrade, but only in games that specifically support its enhancements. Sony calls this “PS5 Pro Enhanced,” and through the back half of 2024 that list was still filling in rather than covering the full library. In supported titles, the difference is genuinely noticeable: steadier frame rates during busy scenes, meaningfully improved ray-traced reflections and lighting, and in some cases the ability to run performance-mode frame rates at what used to be quality-mode resolution. In anything outside that enhanced list, you are playing the exact same experience as a base PS5, just on more expensive hardware.
The built-in 2TB drive is a genuinely welcome quality-of-life improvement on its own, and it means less immediate pressure to add an internal expansion drive the way base PS5 owners often need to.
Where this purchase gets harder to defend is the price-to-benefit math. Going from a base PS5 to a PS5 Pro costs roughly the same as buying a second console, for improvements that, outside of enhanced titles, you will not notice at all during actual play. This is squarely a purchase for people who already care about frame pacing, resolution, and ray tracing fidelity at a level most casual players simply do not track moment to moment.
What I Liked
Noticeably better and steadier performance in PS5 Pro Enhanced titles
Meaningfully improved ray tracing quality where supported
Built-in 2TB SSD solves the storage anxiety base PS5 owners deal with
No ecosystem changes, every existing game and save just works
What I Didn’t
Enhanced title support was still incomplete through the back half of 2024
No visible benefit at all in non-enhanced games, which is most of the existing library
At over $1,000 CAD out the door, this is priced like a luxury upgrade, not a necessary one
Requires you to already own or be replacing a base PS5, so the real cost comparison is steep
The Value Verdict
Rating: 3/5
I do not regret this purchase, but I also cannot recommend it to everyone. If you are the kind of player who genuinely notices frame pacing dips and resolution compromises, and you have the specific games in your rotation that support the Pro enhancements, this delivers real, tangible improvement. If you are a more casual player, save the money and put it toward the games themselves.
DLC Review · Purchased November 20, 2024 · $71.76 CAD via Xbox.com
Disney Dreamlight Valley: The Storybook Vale. Photo: PlayStation Store
The Background
Disney Dreamlight Valley built a loyal audience by blending cozy life-sim mechanics (farming, decorating, friendship building) with actual Disney and Pixar characters and storylines, and The Storybook Vale is a premium expansion pack adding new realms, characters, including Rapunzel and Flynn Rider, and story content on top of that established foundation.
Living With It
This is the priciest DLC purchase in my entire 2024 spreadsheet, and coming in above the $70 mark puts it in a different category than the roughly $12 PowerWash packs and $21 currency bundles that make up most of this section. That price is more defensible than it might first appear, given how much new content the expansion actually adds: new realms to explore and decorate, meaningful character-specific storylines rather than generic filler quests, and enough new systems and content to genuinely extend the life of a game that some players had already worked through the bulk of.
Reviews at launch (and my own time with it) landed on similar ground: this is a well-produced, content-rich expansion that clearly understands what the existing Dreamlight Valley audience wants, more of the same core loop, done well, with new characters and settings to wrap around it. What it is not is a reinvention of the formula, and a small number of reviewers specifically flagged that as a minor disappointment given the price point, wanting the premium expansion to push the format somewhere genuinely new rather than expanding it along the same lines.
For someone already invested in the base game’s rhythm, spending an evening building out a new Rapunzel-themed area of the valley delivered exactly the kind of relaxing, satisfying progression loop that made the base game worth playing regularly in the first place.
What I Liked
Genuinely substantial amount of new content, not a thin premium reskin
Rapunzel and Flynn Rider’s storylines are well written and true to the source material
Extends the life of a game I was already invested in rather than replacing what worked
What I Didn’t
The priciest DLC purchase of my entire year, worth going in with clear expectations
More of the same established formula rather than a meaningful evolution of it
Value is heavily dependent on already being invested in the base game’s core loop
The Value Verdict
Rating: 3/5
Reasonable if you are already invested in Dreamlight Valley as an ongoing game, this delivers real, substantial content. Just know going in that this is a “more of what you already like” purchase rather than a must-have reinvention.
Game Review · Purchased October 20, 2024 · $20.15 CAD via PSN
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. Photo: PlayStation Store
The Setup
Rocksteady’s live-service superhero shooter launched earlier in 2024 to a rocky reception, a genuine surprise given the studio’s beloved Batman: Arkham legacy, and by the time I picked it up in October at a steep post-launch discount, the game had already become something of a cautionary tale in the industry about chasing live-service trends with a studio and franchise built around single-player storytelling.
The Review
Coming in with lowered expectations and a heavily discounted price actually made for a more fair assessment than launch reviews probably allowed for: the core shooting and traversal mechanics are genuinely fine, even solid in short bursts, with each character controlling distinctly enough to matter. The problems reviewers and the community flagged at launch are still present though: a live-service structure bolted onto characters and a universe that fans wanted a proper single-player Arkham-style story from, and narrative choices (without spoiling specifics) that a large portion of the existing fanbase found genuinely unwelcome.
Playing this months after launch, once the initial backlash had already reshaped the wider conversation around the game, it was hard not to view it as a case study in mismatched expectations between what a studio’s fanbase wanted and what got built.
What I Liked
Solid core shooting and traversal mechanics
Distinct character playstyles
At a steep discount, low financial risk to see the discourse firsthand
What I Didn’t
Live-service structure clashes with what fans of the studio’s prior work actually wanted
Narrative choices proved divisive within the existing fanbase
Full launch price would be very hard to justify given the reception
The Verdict
Rating: 2/5
At the deep discount I paid, this was a reasonable curiosity purchase. At full launch price, this would be a hard no, and the wider gaming community’s reaction backs that up.
Toys & Collectibles Review · Purchased October 15, 2024 · $1,377.99 CAD via Vonado
A comparable UCS-scale Imperial Star Destroyer build. Photo: Brick Vault
Every year has one purchase that makes you pause before hitting confirm. For 2024, this was mine, by a wide margin.
The Background
“The Eviscerator” is a well-known name within the Star Wars fan-building community, referring to Ultimate Collector Series-scale fan designs of an Imperial Star Destroyer, built explicitly to sit alongside (and in some interpretations, surpass) LEGO’s own official UCS Star Destroyer sets in size and detail. At $1,377.99, this is the single most expensive line item anywhere in my entire 2024 spreadsheet, more than the PS5 Pro, more than any other individual purchase across the whole year.
I want to be transparent about what a decision like this actually involves: this is not an impulse buy in the way a $12 DLC pack is. A purchase at this price, in this hobby, requires real consideration about display space, assembly time, and whether the payoff genuinely matches the cost, and I thought about it for weeks before pulling the trigger.
Living With It
This is, without competition, the most demanding build I completed all year. Thousands of pieces, a build that ran across multiple sessions over more than a week, and a finished model that genuinely needs real shelf or stand space, not a spare corner of a bookshelf, once complete. The scale is the entire point: this is built to communicate the sheer, oppressive size of an Imperial Star Destroyer in a way that smaller official sets, constrained by more reasonable price points, simply cannot attempt.
Detail work across the hull, from the engine section through to the command tower, held up under close inspection, and the model’s sheer presence once assembled and displayed genuinely earns reactions from people seeing it for the first time, which is not something I can say about most of my collection, however much I enjoy the smaller pieces individually.
The tradeoff is exactly what you would expect at this price and scale: this replaces meaningful furniture space, demands real assembly commitment, and represents a genuine financial decision rather than a casual purchase. I do not think everyone reading this should buy this set. I think the specific person who has the space, the patience, and the existing love of the source material to want this exact thing should.
What I Liked
The single most impressive, imposing finished piece in my entire collection
Detail quality held up under close inspection across the whole hull
A genuine multi-session build experience that felt like a real achievement to complete
Delivers a scale and presence that no reasonably priced official LEGO set attempts to match
What I Didn’t
The most expensive single purchase of my entire year, by a wide margin
A serious multi-day time commitment, not something to start lightly
Needs real, dedicated display space, this genuinely competes with furniture for room
The Value Verdict
Rating: 5/5
I do not make this recommendation lightly given the price, but for scale, presence, and the sheer achievement of finishing it, this is one of the most rewarding things in my entire collection. If you are fully committed to the display side of this hobby and have the space and patience to match, it delivers an experience nothing else on this list comes close to.
Toys & Collectibles Review · Purchased October 15, 2024 · $475.99 CAD via Vonado
A comparable large-scale Sandcrawler build. Photo: USABlocks
Some sets you buy because you love them. Others you buy because the original is gone and this is the next best thing. This one is the second kind, and I am completely fine with that.
The Background
LEGO’s own official Sandcrawler sets, the classic 10144 and the more recent smaller-scale 75220, have been fan favourites for years, to the point where the larger versions command real collector prices on the secondary market once retired. Rather than chase down a retired official set at inflated resale prices, I picked up Vonado’s take on the same iconic Jawa vehicle from Tatooine, at a scale comparable to or larger than LEGO’s own mid-tier version, for a fraction of what hunting down the genuine article after the fact would have cost.
This arrived alongside the Star Destroyer Eviscerator, the single biggest purchase of my entire year, as part of an October order.
Living With It
The Sandcrawler’s boxy, weathered silhouette is honestly a forgiving shape to translate into brick form compared to some of the more organic, creature-based builds elsewhere in this series, and Vonado’s version captures the distinctive rust-and-sand colour palette and paneling detail convincingly. The build itself moved at a steady, satisfying pace, less physically demanding than the Tremortusk or Ghost, closer in scope to a substantial weekend project than a multi-session undertaking.
Interior detail, to whatever extent the set includes it, focused on the vehicle’s distinctive tracked base and boxy hull silhouette rather than a fully realized interior, which tracks with how the official LEGO versions have generally approached this vehicle too, prioritizing the iconic exterior silhouette over a walk-around interior.
Compared to hunting down a retired official Sandcrawler set, which by 2024 could mean paying well above original retail on the secondary market for a set in good condition, this felt like an easy, low-regret decision. You are trading a small amount of official-license cachet for a meaningfully lower price and, frankly, easier availability.
What I Liked
Captures the iconic Sandcrawler silhouette and colour palette convincingly
A meaningfully cheaper alternative to hunting down a retired official LEGO version
Manageable build scope, satisfying without becoming a multi-session ordeal
Comparable or larger scale than LEGO’s own mid-tier official release
What I Didn’t
Lacks the exact collector cachet of an official, licensed LEGO set
Interior detail is limited, similar to the official versions but still a missed opportunity
Still requires accepting the general Vonado tradeoff of clone bricks over genuine LEGO plastic
The Value Verdict
Rating: 4/5
If you missed the official LEGO Sandcrawler window and do not want to pay collector prices for a retired set, this is a genuinely solid stand-in that nails the parts of the design that matter most: the silhouette and the colour work.
DLC Review · Purchased October 12, 2024 · $12.31 CAD via PSN
PowerWash Simulator: Shrek Special Pack. Photo: Steam
The Setup
The fifth and final PowerWash Simulator crossover pack I bought in 2024, this one sends you scrubbing down the Swamp and other Far Far Away locations, complete with recognizable music cues from the films.
The Review
Of all five crossovers in my 2024 haul, this was the one the wider gaming community seemed most excited about before it even released, and playing it, the enthusiasm makes sense. There is something inherently funny and satisfying about power-washing an ogre’s swamp specifically, and the developers clearly understood the meme potential of the pairing, leaning into it with genuine care in the level design and audio rather than treating it as a cheap licensing grab. Closing out my year of PowerWash crossovers on this note felt appropriate, easily one of the two or three strongest packs in the entire line.
What I Liked
Genuinely fun, meme-aware execution of the crossover concept
Strong recognizable music and setting work
A satisfying way to close out the year’s run of these packs
What I Didn’t
Same short-content tradeoff as the rest of the line
Appeal leans on already finding the Shrek and PowerWash pairing funny
The Verdict
Rating: 5/5
One of the more fun packs in the entire series, purely for the novelty of power-washing an ogre’s swamp, and a great note to end my year of these crossovers on.
Toys & Collectibles Review · Purchased September 29, 2024 · $92.03 CAD ($67.77 USD) via Bungie.net
The Bungie LMTD Ace of Spades blaster. Photo: Bleeding Cool
There is a specific kind of joy in holding a physical version of something that has only ever existed as pixels and a satisfying reload animation.
The Background
The Ace of Spades is arguably Destiny’s most iconic weapon, a hand cannon with over a decade of lore, community attachment, and in-game history behind it. Bungie’s LMTD collectibles line, produced in partnership with Nerf-style blaster manufacturing, turned that weapon into a real, licensed foam dart blaster, sold directly through Bungie’s own store rather than through general retail channels. I ordered mine in late September, paying $67.77 USD, which converted to $92.03 CAD on my card.
This is squarely a fan merchandise purchase rather than a general toy purchase, and Bungie’s own marketing around the LMTD line has always leaned into that: these are built for people who already care about the in-game weapon’s design and lore, not positioned as a generic blaster that happens to have game branding slapped on it.
Living With It
Build quality here exceeded my expectations for a licensed collectible in this category. The blaster uses real spring-action firing rather than a cheap, flimsy mechanism, the deco work faithfully translates the in-game weapon’s distinctive rose gold and black colour scheme and engraved detailing, and the packaging itself was clearly designed with display and unboxing in mind, the kind of presentation that makes a purchase like this feel like a genuine collectible rather than a toy aisle impulse buy.
As an actual foam blaster, it performs the way a decent mid-tier Nerf product should: solid range and consistent firing for casual use, nothing revolutionary, and that is exactly as it should be, since firing performance was never really the point of this purchase.
Where this lives or dies, entirely, is prior attachment to the source material. Someone with zero context for Destiny would be looking at a somewhat expensive foam blaster with unusual styling and no real way to appreciate why the colour scheme or engravings matter. For a longtime player, it is a genuinely well-executed piece of fandom merchandise.
What I Liked
Build quality and deco work exceeded expectations for a licensed collectible blaster
Faithful translation of the in-game weapon’s distinctive design and colour scheme
Real spring-action firing mechanism, not a cheap or flimsy toy build
Packaging and presentation clearly designed with collectors in mind
What I Didn’t
Entirely dependent on prior attachment to Destiny to justify the price
Firing performance is solid but unremarkable compared to dedicated Nerf products at a similar price
A niche purchase that will mean nothing to anyone outside the game’s community
The Value Verdict
Rating: 4/5
For Destiny fans, this is a well-made piece of fan merchandise for a genuinely franchise-defining weapon, and it delivered above my expectations for build quality. If you have no attachment to the game, this price will look steep for what is, at its core, a foam dart blaster, and that reaction would be entirely fair.
The Compulsive Canadian Gamer 