Tag: gaming

PowerWash Simulator 2’s Star Wars Pack, Cleaning the Millennium Falcon One Panel at a Time

DLC Review · Purchased July 25, 2026 · $13.49 CAD via PSN

PowerWash Simulator 2 Star Wars Pack key art featuring the Millennium Falcon
Photo via PlayStation Store

The Setup

Given how much money I’ve thrown at both the original PowerWash Simulator’s Star Wars content and pretty much every other piece of Star Wars merchandise that’s crossed my path over the years, buying this the week it launched was never really in question. The pitch alone, hosing carbon scoring and grime off the Millennium Falcon, is exactly the kind of licensed crossover this franchise seems built for.

Living With It

Cleaning the Falcon is every bit as satisfying as the concept promises. The ship’s iconic silhouette and greebled panel detail give the cleaning tools a lot to chew on, and there’s a genuine sense of scale working your way from the cockpit down through the boarding ramp and out to the mandibles. The pack also includes a couple of other iconic locations and vehicles beyond just the Falcon, giving it more variety than a pure one-ship gimmick would have had.

Where this pack pulls ahead of the original game’s Star Wars content is the sequel’s added verticality tools; the cherry picker in particular makes reaching the Falcon’s upper hull sections feel like an actual task rather than an awkward camera-angle fight. It’s not doing anything the format hasn’t done before structurally, but the fidelity on the ship models themselves is a clear step up, and as someone who’s now cleaned this specific ship in two separate games, I can say the sequel’s version is the better-looking one by a wide margin.

What I Liked

  • The Millennium Falcon’s panel detail and greebling give the cleaning mechanics real texture
  • Sequel’s verticality tools make reaching the ship’s upper sections much better than in the original game’s Star Wars content
  • More than one location included, not just a single-ship gimmick

What I Didn’t

  • Structurally, it’s the same format as every other crossover pack at this point
  • Licensed packs like this keep landing at a similar price point regardless of content depth

The Verdict

Rating: 4.5/5

The best-looking Star Wars content this series has put out yet, and an easy pickup for anyone who liked the original’s crossover packs.

Where to Buy

PowerWash Simulator 2’s Adventure Time Pack, Scrubbing Down the Land of Ooo

DLC Review · Purchased April 20, 2026 · $10.99 CAD via PSN

PowerWash Simulator 2 Adventure Time Pack key art
Photo via PlayStation Store

The Setup

After spending most of last year buying nearly every crossover pack for the original PowerWash Simulator, I was genuinely relieved when the sequel finally started getting its own special packs this spring. The Adventure Time Pack was the first one out the gate in April, dropping players into the Land of Ooo to hose down locations and vehicles pulled straight from the show.

Living With It

The Adventure Time aesthetic translates surprisingly well to the grime-and-suds format; the show’s candy-colored, slightly off-kilter art style gives the level designers a lot to play with, and the caked-on filth clashing against Ooo’s bright pastel palette is a nice visual gag on its own. The pack carries over the sequel’s added verticality tools nicely, with the abseiling rig getting real use scaling some of the taller, more vertical Ooo architecture in a way the original PowerWash Simulator’s crossover packs never really attempted.

It’s a shorter pack than some of the meatier crossovers from the original game, and the character cosmetics included feel like a smaller offering compared to what some of the bigger licensed packs used to include. But the core cleaning loop is exactly as satisfying as ever, and being one of the first crossover packs for the sequel, it’s a promising sign that PowerWash Simulator 2 is going to get the same steady stream of content that made the original such good value over its lifetime.

What I Liked

  • Adventure Time’s bright, off-kilter art style works surprisingly well against grime
  • Good use of the sequel’s new verticality tools like the abseiling rig
  • Signals a promising ongoing content pipeline for PowerWash Simulator 2

What I Didn’t

  • Shorter than some of the bigger crossover packs from the original game
  • Character cosmetics feel like a smaller offering than past licensed packs

The Verdict

Rating: 3.5/5

A fun, if slightly light, first crossover pack for the sequel. A good sign of things to come rather than a must-own on its own.

Where to Buy

PowerWash Simulator 2: Same Great Grime, Better Toolkit

Game Review · Purchased October 23, 2025 · $37.50 CAD via PSN

Key art for PowerWash Simulator 2
PowerWash Simulator 2. Photo: PlayStation Store

The Setup

After an entire year of buying nearly every crossover pack the original PowerWash Simulator put out, picking up the actual sequel felt less like a purchase and more like an inevitability. The sequel drops the fictional town of Muckingham on players, with new locations including Sponge Valley, Power Falls, and Lubri City to scrub clean.

The Review

The core loop is exactly as satisfying as it’s always been, which is the correct instinct for a game this beloved for its simplicity, but the sequel adds real mechanical texture rather than just reskinning the original with new levels. Multi-stage jobs give individual cleaning tasks more structure than the original’s more single-note approach, and new tools like an abseiling rig and a cherry picker open up verticality that the first game never really had a good answer for.

The bigger structural change is multiplayer: split-screen co-op alongside online play for up to four people turns what was always a solo, meditative experience into something you can genuinely share with friends or family, and it works well without disrupting the low-stakes, relaxing tone that made the original a hit in the first place. Small additions like a customizable home base and a cat companion are the kind of low-effort, high-charm touches that this series has always been good at.

Coming off a year of buying five separate crossover packs for the original, this sequel makes a genuinely strong case that it will be worth doing the same thing all over again once its own crossover content starts arriving.

What I Liked

  • Core cleaning loop remains as satisfying as ever, with real new mechanical depth
  • New tools like the abseiling rig and cherry picker add welcome verticality
  • Split-screen and online co-op meaningfully expand how the game can be played
  • Small charm additions like the customizable home base and cat companion

What I Didn’t

  • Still fundamentally the same core loop as the original, for better or worse
  • No crossover content yet at launch, which was a huge part of what kept the first game interesting all year

The Verdict

Rating: 4/5

A genuine improvement on a game that didn’t strictly need fixing, and the new co-op options alone make this an easy recommendation for anyone who enjoyed the original with a friend looking over their shoulder.

Where to Buy

Dying Light: The Beast, A Standalone Sequel That Earns Its Own Name

Game Review · Purchased October 18, 2025 · $89.59 CAD via PSN

Key art for Dying Light: The Beast
Dying Light: The Beast. Photo: PlayStation Store

The Setup

Originally planned as DLC for Dying Light 2 before growing into a full standalone release, The Beast follows Kyle Crane, the protagonist of the original Dying Light, now carrying both human and zombie DNA after years of captivity and experimentation. Set in the new, zombie-infested valley of Castor Woods, it blends the series’ trademark first-person parkour with a new dual playstyle built around Crane’s monstrous abilities, plus up to four-player co-op.

The Review

The parkour, the series’ defining strength since the original game, feels as good here as it ever has, fluid traversal across a genuinely well laid out map that rewards momentum and vertical thinking over just running in straight lines. Bringing back Crane specifically, rather than a new protagonist, gives the story a sense of continuity the more recent mainline entry sometimes lacked, and the new beast abilities add a satisfying second layer to combat that goes beyond the usual crafting-and-melee loop.

Castor Woods as a setting strikes a good balance between the series’ urban roots and something a little more open and rural, giving traversal a different rhythm than the tightly packed cityscapes of past entries without losing what made the movement systems fun in the first place. Whether this fully justifies growing from planned DLC into a full-price standalone release is a fair question, but the amount of new content and the strength of Crane’s return make a reasonable case for it.

What I Liked

  • Parkour and traversal remain the series’ strongest asset, and it shows here
  • Bringing back Kyle Crane gives real narrative continuity
  • New beast abilities add a genuinely fresh layer to combat
  • Castor Woods is a well-designed change of pace from past settings

What I Didn’t

  • Started life as DLC, and the full-price ask reflects some growing pains from that transition
  • Newcomers without prior series context may miss some of Crane’s return’s emotional weight

The Verdict

Rating: 4/5

For longtime Dying Light fans, this is an easy recommendation, sharp parkour, a satisfying new combat layer, and a genuinely welcome return for Crane. Worth checking current pricing before buying, since it launched at a premium for what began life as an expansion.

Where to Buy

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

PS5 Pro: The Most Expensive Way to Notice a Frame Rate

Hardware Review · Purchased December 9, 2024 · $1,075.18 CAD via EB Games

PlayStation 5 Pro console
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.

Where to Buy

Disney Dreamlight Valley: The Storybook Vale, More of a Formula I Still Enjoy

DLC Review · Purchased November 20, 2024 · $71.76 CAD via Xbox.com

Key art for Disney Dreamlight Valley: The Storybook Vale
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.

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

The Astro Bot DualSense: Buying a Controller for the Paint Job

Hardware Review · Purchased September 6, 2024 · $111.98 CAD via EB Games

Astro Bot Limited Edition DualSense wireless controller
The Astro Bot Limited Edition DualSense. Photo via PlayStation.Blog.

Sometimes you buy a piece of hardware for what it does. Sometimes you buy it for what it looks like sitting on your shelf. This is very much the second kind of purchase, and I am not going to pretend otherwise.

The Background

Astro Bot launched in September 2024 to the kind of reception that immediately tells you something special happened: near-universal critical acclaim, and eventually the Game Awards’ Game of the Year trophy. Sony backed the launch with a limited edition DualSense controller in Astro Bot’s cream-and-blue colour scheme, complete with small Astro Bot etchings and a matching light bar treatment, and it sold out fast enough that I count myself lucky to have grabbed one at EB Games on launch week rather than hunting resale listings afterward.

I bought this the same day as the physical copy of the game and the digital deluxe upgrade, so this was very much a “go all in on launch day” purchase rather than a considered, separate decision.

Living With It

Let’s be completely honest about what this controller is: a completely standard DualSense with a limited edition paint job. The haptics, adaptive triggers, built-in speaker, and touchpad all function identically to the roughly $85 base model. There is no functional upgrade hiding in here, no exclusive feature, nothing that makes Astro Bot the game play or feel any different than it would on a plain black pad.

What you are paying the premium for is entirely the aesthetics, and on that front it delivers. The colourway is genuinely well done, restrained rather than garish, and it photographs nicely if you are the type to post a setup shot. Because these sold out quickly around launch, there is also a small collector’s satisfaction in having one from the actual release window rather than picking one up later.

If I am being fully honest with myself, the DualSense form factor itself is what makes this purchase easy to justify at all: it is already a genuinely excellent controller before you factor in any paint job, with haptic feedback that meaningfully changes how a lot of PS5 games feel to play.

What I Liked

  • Clean, well-executed colour scheme that does not feel gimmicky
  • Same excellent DualSense hardware underneath (haptics, adaptive triggers, speaker)
  • Limited release window adds a bit of genuine collector’s value
  • Paired perfectly with launch day for one of the best games of the year

What I Didn’t

  • Zero functional difference from the roughly $85 base DualSense
  • Pure premium-for-aesthetics purchase, easy to talk yourself out of if you are budget conscious
  • Limited stock meant a real risk of missing out entirely if I had waited even a week

The Value Verdict

Rating: 3/5

Judge this one by what it actually is: a paint job on hardware you would probably buy anyway. If you love Astro Bot and want the shelf piece to match, it delivers exactly what it promises and nothing more. If you are looking at this as a controller upgrade, save the premium and get the base model instead.

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