Category: Games

Life is Strange: Double Exposure, A Solid Sequel That Does Not Quite Match the Original

Game Review · Purchased December 22, 2024 · $44.99 CAD via EB Games

Key art for Life is Strange: Double Exposure
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.

Where to Buy

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, A Discount-Bin Curiosity That Confirmed the Discourse

Game Review · Purchased October 20, 2024 · $20.15 CAD via PSN

Key art for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
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.

Where to Buy

Astro Bot: The Full-Price Game That Actually Earned Its Full Price

Game Review · Purchased September 6, 2024 · $89.59 CAD via EB Games

Key art for Astro Bot on PS5
Astro Bot. Photo: PlayStation Store

The Setup

Astro Bot took home the Game Awards’ Game of the Year trophy for 2024, and it did so as a pure, joyful 3D platformer built from the ground up to show off exactly what the PS5 and DualSense controller can do, level by inventive level.

The Review

I bought the physical copy on launch week alongside the limited edition controller and digital deluxe upgrade covered elsewhere in this series, and the game more than justified going all-in on day one. Every level introduces a new mechanic, gadget, or gimmick tied specifically to the DualSense’s haptics and adaptive triggers, and rather than the usual pattern of a few standout ideas stretched across a whole game, Astro Bot keeps generating fresh ideas at a pace that rarely lets up across its full runtime.

This has been widely compared to the best Mario platformers of the current era, and having played through it, that comparison holds up: tight controls, generous but fair difficulty curve, and a level of craft and polish in every individual level that most platformers, even good ones, do not sustain for an entire game.

What I Liked

  • Constant stream of fresh ideas and mechanics, level after level
  • Some of the best use of DualSense haptics and adaptive triggers in any PS5 game
  • Tight, satisfying platforming controls
  • Genuinely joyful tone throughout

What I Didn’t

  • As a mascot platformer, it will always have a lower ceiling of mainstream attention than bigger franchise names, despite deserving comparison to the best of them
  • Some players may find the difficulty curve too gentle if they want a harder platforming challenge

The Verdict

Rating: 5/5

This is the rare full-price game that consistently gets recommended as worth buying at launch rather than waiting for a sale, and having played it, I agree completely.

Where to Buy

Life is Strange Remastered Collection: The Right Way to Catch Up Before Double Exposure

Game Review · Purchased August 31, 2024 · $29.95 CAD via PSN

Key art for the Life is Strange Remastered Collection
Life is Strange Remastered Collection. Photo: PlayStation Store

The Setup

This collection bundles remastered versions of the original Life is Strange and its prequel, Life is Strange: Before the Storm, cleaning up visuals, animations, and lip sync from the original last-generation releases, timed ahead of Double Exposure’s launch later the same year.

The Review

I picked this up specifically to refresh my memory before Double Exposure, and it turned out to be exactly the right call. The visual and technical upgrades are meaningful without changing the fundamental experience that made these games resonate in the first place: strong, grounded character writing, a distinctive time-rewind mechanic that the original built its entire narrative structure around, and a willingness to sit with difficult, real emotional material that set the series apart from a lot of its contemporaries when it first launched.

For anyone who only played these on previous-generation hardware, or never played them at all, this remains the definitive way to experience the story that everything else in the franchise, Double Exposure included, builds on.

What I Liked

  • Two well-regarded narrative games bundled for well under $30
  • Meaningful visual and technical improvements over the originals
  • Essential context before playing Double Exposure
  • Strong, still-resonant character writing years later

What I Didn’t

  • If you already own and have played the originals extensively, the remaster alone may not feel like a necessary re-buy
  • Core gameplay remains simple by modern standards, this is a narrative experience first

The Verdict

Rating: 4/5

Especially as a lead-in to Double Exposure, this is a strong deal: two well-regarded narrative games, cleaned up and modernized, for under $30.

Where to Buy

Memorrha: A Small, Moody Game That Punches Well Above Its Price

Game Review · Purchased May 5, 2024 · $12.09 CAD via PSN

Key art for Memorrha, a moody puzzle-adventure game
Memorrha. Photo: Steam

The Setup

Memorrha is a quiet, atmospheric puzzle-adventure about piecing a broken world back together, built around environmental storytelling rather than dialogue or exposition, in the same general lineage as games like Gris or Rime.

The Review

At just over twelve dollars, this was one of the smallest financial commitments in my entire year, and it delivered a genuinely distinct mood and visual identity that a lot of much more expensive games never manage. The puzzle design is not the deepest or most challenging in the genre, but that was never really the point, the game is more interested in atmosphere, sound design, and the slow reveal of its world than in testing your problem-solving skills.

Games like this live or die on whether the specific mood they are chasing lands for you personally, and this one landed for me: a short, contemplative experience that felt worth the handful of hours it asked for.

What I Liked

  • Distinct, moody atmosphere and art direction
  • Strong environmental storytelling with minimal reliance on dialogue
  • Extremely low financial risk given the price
  • A satisfying handful of hours rather than an overstuffed runtime

What I Didn’t

  • Puzzle design is fairly light, not a game for anyone wanting a real mechanical challenge
  • The mood-first approach will not land for players who want a stronger narrative throughline

The Verdict

Rating: 4/5

A small, low-risk purchase that delivers a genuinely distinct atmosphere you do not get from bigger-budget titles. Easy to recommend at this price specifically.

Where to Buy

Dead Island 2 Deluxe Edition: Buying the Whole Meal Instead of Ordering Extras Later

Game Review · Purchased January 16, 2024 · $70.50 CAD via PSN

Key art for Dead Island 2
Dead Island 2. Photo: PlayStation Store

The Setup

Dead Island 2’s Deluxe Edition bundles the base game with its full expansion pass and a handful of cosmetic extras, essentially pre-purchasing both the story expansions I reviewed separately elsewhere in this series and the core game in a single transaction.

The Review

The base game earned its positive reception honestly: gory, physical melee combat with genuine weight behind every swing, and a strong, distinct sense of place across a zombie-infested, sun-bleached version of Los Angeles that manages to feel different from the series’ earlier tropical island settings despite the shared DNA. Character progression through the skill card system gave real room to build a personal combat style, whether that meant leaning into elemental weapon effects, crowd control, or straightforward melee damage.

Buying the Deluxe bundle upfront, rather than the base game alone with the intention of grabbing the expansion pass later, turned out to be the financially smarter move: bundled together, the combined price undercuts what buying both pieces separately at full price down the line would have cost, a fairly rare case of a “deluxe” tier actually representing straightforward savings rather than just cosmetic upselling.

The expansions themselves (covered in more depth in their own post in this series) landed as solid, if not essential, extra content, which does put a small dent in the overall value proposition of the bundle, but the core game alone was strong enough to make this purchase worthwhile even setting the expansions aside entirely.

What I Liked

  • Genuinely satisfying, weighty melee combat
  • Distinct, well-realized setting
  • Bundled pricing meaningfully undercuts buying the pieces separately later
  • Flexible skill card system supports different playstyles

What I Didn’t

  • Included expansions are decent rather than essential, slightly softening the bundle’s overall value
  • Open-world structure occasionally repeats itself across the map’s different districts

The Verdict

Rating: 4/5

Buying the Deluxe bundle upfront was the smarter financial call versus buying the base game and expansion pass separately later at full price, and the core game’s combat and setting hold up well enough on their own to justify the purchase regardless.

Where to Buy

The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR, A Horror Rail Shooter That Knows Exactly What It Is

Game Review · Purchased January 1, 2024 · $35.94 CAD via PSN

Key art for The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR
The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR. Photo: PlayStation Store

The Setup

Switchback VR is Supermassive Games’ on-rails horror shooter spin-off from their Dark Pictures Anthology, pulling characters, monsters, and settings from the existing narrative games into a faster, more arcade-focused format built specifically for VR.

The Review

This is not trying to be a deep narrative experience the way the mainline Dark Pictures games are, and it is better for embracing that instead of fighting it. The on-rails structure keeps the pacing tight, jump scares land with real physical presence in VR in a way they simply cannot on a flat screen, and the callbacks to existing Dark Pictures lore and characters give longtime fans of the anthology a genuine reason to care about scenes that would otherwise just be shooting galleries with a horror coat of paint.

For anyone who has played Man of Medan, House of Ashes, or the other anthology entries, spotting familiar faces and locations adds a layer of context that elevates what is, mechanically, a fairly simple format.

What I Liked

  • Genuinely effective horror atmosphere and jump scares in VR
  • Tight, arcade-style pacing
  • Meaningful fan service for existing Dark Pictures players
  • Solid replay value chasing different scoring and branching moments

What I Didn’t

  • Shallow compared to the mainline narrative games in the same series
  • On-rails structure limits player agency by design, which will not appeal to everyone

The Verdict

Rating: 3/5

Reasonable for what it sets out to be: a shorter, arcade-style horror experience rather than a full narrative adventure. Existing Dark Pictures fans will get the most value out of the callbacks and cameos here.

Where to Buy

A Fisherman’s Tale 2: A Short, Clever VR Puzzle That Knows Not to Overstay Its Welcome

Game Review · Purchased January 1, 2024 · $22.50 CAD via PSN

Key art for A Fisherman's Tale 2 on PSVR2
A Fisherman’s Tale 2. Photo: PlayStation Store

The Setup

A Fisherman’s Tale 2 continues the recursive, mirror-world puzzle concept the original built its whole identity around: you play as a puppet, controlling a smaller puppet version of yourself, inside worlds that fold in on their own scale in ways that would be genuinely disorienting outside of VR and feel like magic within it.

The Review

What made the first game work was never raw production values, it was the cleverness of individual puzzle moments, the specific instant where a scale trick clicks into place and you realize the solution was staring at you the whole time from a different size. The sequel leans into that same design philosophy rather than trying to reinvent it, delivering a tight sequence of puzzle rooms that build on each other without ever padding themselves out with filler content.

Playing this on PSVR2 specifically benefits from the headset’s improved tracking precision, since a lot of the puzzle interactions rely on fiddly, small-scale manipulation that a shakier tracking system would make frustrating rather than satisfying.

What I Liked

  • Clever, well-paced puzzle design
  • Short enough to never overstay its welcome
  • Strong use of VR’s unique perspective tricks
  • A natural next step for anyone who liked the original

What I Didn’t

  • Short runtime means it is a light purchase for anyone wanting a long session
  • Puzzle-VR is a narrow enough niche that non-fans of the genre should not expect it to convert them

The Verdict

Rating: 4/5

For the genre and the price, this is easy to recommend. It is not a long game, but puzzle-VR titles like this tend to deliver strong “aha” moments per dollar spent, and this one delivers plenty of them.

Where to Buy

Pistol Whip: Still the VR Game I Recommend First

Game Review · Purchased January 1, 2024 · $31.34 CAD via PSN

Key art for Pistol Whip on PSVR2
Pistol Whip. Photo: PlayStation Store

The Setup

Pistol Whip plays like a music video you step inside of: dodge, shoot, and move to the beat across a constantly expanding library of scenes and tracks, blending rhythm-game timing with on-rails shooting in a combination that sounds simple on paper and feels genuinely exhilarating in the headset.

The Review

By the time I picked this up on PSVR2 in January 2024, the game had years of live support behind it and a track library big enough that finding a scene and song combination that clicks with your taste is basically guaranteed. The PSVR2 version specifically benefits from the headset’s improved haptics and tracking, both of which matter a lot in a game where the entire appeal rests on precise, physical timing feeling satisfying in your hands.

This has been consistently rated among the best VR titles available on any platform, and playing it confirms exactly why: it is one of the few VR experiences that genuinely gets people who are skeptical of VR to understand the appeal in a single session.

What I Liked

  • Exhilarating rhythm-shooter gameplay loop
  • Huge, constantly growing track library
  • PSVR2’s haptics and tracking noticeably elevate the experience
  • A genuinely great “convince a skeptic” VR demo

What I Didn’t

  • Repetitive by design once the novelty of a specific track wears off
  • Physically demanding in a way seated VR games are not, worth knowing before a long session

The Verdict

Rating: 5/5

This is a must-own VR title, full stop, and the price reflects a mature, well-supported live game rather than a launch-day gamble. If you own a PSVR2 and do not have this yet, it should be near the top of the list.

Where to Buy