HIGH It’s a love letter to classic Resident Evil.

LOW Occasional difficulty spikes.

WTF That cameo from another classic horror franchise…

It’s impossible to discuss Checkmaty’s Nightmare of Decay without referencing longtime horror franchise Resident Evil — it’s obvious the game is a tongue-in-cheek love letter to the classic roots of Capcom’s iconic series. Although Capcom’s recent remakes of Resident Evil 2 and 3 remind players of where the series came from, they just don’t make them like they used to. So, Checkmaty is here to fill that void.

Nightmare of Decay plays like a brief first-person reimagining of the original Resident Evil. In fact, some of the design choices are so similar I’m a little worried that Capcom might ultimately take legal action or at least request changes.

However (for the time being) players are cast as an unnamed character suffering from nightmares. They awaken in the yard of a large manor with nothing but a talking cat (yes, really) to get them going, and even before even entering the manor’s front doors it’s not hard to tell something dicey is afoot.

Upon entry, zombies are found moaning and shambling in the halls. The player soon finds a small variety of weapons for offense — a knife, a pistol, a shotgun and a few others helpful in dispatching enemies. Small puzzles and keys are also sprinkled throughout.

Although Nightmare of Decay loses some classic flavor by not being a third-person fixed-camera game, the change in perspective modernizes the formula without sacrificing horror. When I entered a new hallway I would immediately look around and listen for the moans of zombies and do as much early threat assessment as possible. Sharp turns in the hallways with creatures hidden behind them capitalize on the first-person view to bring the dreadful sense that something is always lurking.

Nightmare of Decay doesn’t stop at zombies. I don’t want to spoil the other enemy types, but there are references to other Resident Evil games, as well as some original designs. In an interesting twist, a handful of enemies only exist in specific rooms — it keeps progression both fresh and unnerving.

In terms of difficulty, it makes perfect sense that the game skews old-school here as well. Although I only died a handful of times in this short adventure, there’s no autosave system. Players must manually save at designated rooms throughout the mansion, and if I died, it’s back to the title screen to reload. This was rarely irritating, as most of my failures were my own fault, though — much like it was back then, conserving ammo and fighting thoughtfully are keys to a smoother experience.

To be honest, I bought this game on a whim thinking its homage to classic survival-horror and deliberate Playstation 2-era graphics would coalesce into a somewhat janky indie experience with a lot of heart but little technical prowess. I’m happy to be proven wrong as Nightmare of Decay scratched that itch from horror games of my youth in a way that is just modern enough to feel good but not so updated that it loses its nostalgic flavor. It lacks the length of classic horror games as it only clocks in at about 3 hours, but it still feels complete. People looking for a quick and clever trip down survival-horror memory lane likely won’t be disappointed.

Disclosures: This game is developed and published by Checkmaty. It is currently available on PC. This copy of the game was obtained via retail purchase and reviewed on the PC. Approximately 3 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: Nightmare of Decay has no official ESRB rating, but the Steam store page says “This game contains intense violence and gore which is not appropriate for all ages”. I agree, this game is for mature players. It features zombies and other monsters, guns, melee combat, blood, dismemberment and bodies that have been tortured. It is not suitable for young audiences.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind mode available.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game does offers subtitle. There is spoken dialogue, but instead of characters speaking words, they make noises and subtitles show what the characters are meant to say. Nightmare of Decay features some noise cues that help identify enemies in some areas. For example, a flooded area has zombies lying under the water and when they emerge, they make noise and splash. Even with sound on one of these zombies surprised me from behind. The game will be more difficult for hard of hearing players due to these occasional sound cues, so it is not fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: This game’s controls are remappable for keyboard about mouse keybindings.

HIGH Joel Schoch returns with a moving score.

LOW It oddly lacks momentum for a game about traveling.

WTF Getting stuck and having to reload saves multiple times

Although I didn’t formally review 2018’s Far: Lone Sails — developer Okomotive’s debut title and the predecessor to Far: Changing Tides — it stuck with me.

Light on narrative but heavy on art direction and mood, it featured an unnamed character traveling across a deserted landscape in a ‘truck’ of sorts. The truck had multiple switches and buttons to get it moving and required random junk on the path to be collected and fed into the engine as fuel. Lone Sails was partly a side-scrolling resource management adventure and partly an exercise in introspective solitude. In that journey it was just me, the vehicle, and the post-apocalyptic open road ahead. Even better? It was a tight experience that never overstayed its welcome.

Far: Lone Sails felt like a meditative stand-alone experience, so I was surprised when Okomotive announced a sequel that seemed to follow in the same footsteps. Or tire tracks, rather.

Changing Tides’s name is a bit tongue-in-cheek as the innovation here features traveling via a cobbled-together boat, rather than a cobbled-together truck. Deserted roads are exchanged for expansive waters and a protagonist who might (or might not?) be the same one from the first game.

Unfortunately for Changing Tides, swapping roads for seas is where the innovations end. The boat still has buttons and switches to activate, and it still requires random collected junk as fuel. However, in comparison to Lone Sails, there are even more toggles in what must be an effort to crank things up for a sequel. But, rather than being a welcome evolution, I often found myself frustrated with the increase in complicated problem-solving and frenzied running around that’s required to keep the boat moving.

During Lone Sails, I often felt a sense of whimsical adventure. Sure, I was moving around the truck flipping some switches and occasionally collecting garbage for fuel, but it felt humble and sincere. Once the truck was rolling, I could often sit back and gaze upon the deserted, yet beautiful, landscapes while soaking in Joel Schoch’s wondrous score.

Changing Tides feels like it wants to give me that experience, but it gets too bogged down in management to let me enjoy myself. To be fair, there are long stretches where I sailed through beautiful open waters, but I generally felt too busy, dashing around to pull this switch, jumping on that panel and putting out literal fires.

Also, for a game about traveling forward, Changing Tides sure does lack momentum. As mentioned, junk items in the environment need to be collected and fed to the engine as fuel. In Lone Sails there were a few moments of panic where I thought I’d run out of fuel, but perfectly-placed drops appeared just when I was feeling desperate. Later on, the truck received an upgrade to automatically suck junk up from the road, reducing the amount of times I’d have to stop rolling and scavenge.

In Changing Tides, my fuel ran totally dry multiple times, and I even had to reload previous saves more than once to attempt more fuel-efficient runs. I could manipulate the sails to let wind take me on my journey, but if the wind wasn’t blowing and I ran out of fuel, there was no way to get the boat moving.

Compounding this frustrating pacing is that I’d sometimes have to exit the ship and deep-dive for junk on the ocean floor. I’d swim to low depths over and over again, only to find nothing to use for fuel. When I did find junk, my character could only carry one piece at a time, so I’d deep-dive, pick up a piece, swim back up to the ship to deposit it and repeat the process until all pieces were collected. It’s not an entertaining or interesting gameplay loop.

Full disclosure, I discovered the boat has a sonar panel while doing research after finishing the game.

This sonar shows a small ping when junk is nearby, and although the camera zooms in slightly to show the sonar the first time it detects junk, I didn’t realize that was its way of tutorializing the feature — I was too busy running around the ship’s interior while micromanaging panels to realize Changing Tides was trying to nudge me in its direction. Would it have killed Okomotive to put a small text overlay on the screen clearly disclosing the sonar function? Knowing that it existed would have reduced some headaches for me.

I know games don’t have to be “fun” but they need to be something other than tedious. The magical whimsy I felt in Lone Sails is swapped for hectic labor in a way that made Changing Tides a chore to complete — and not only is it a chore, it commits the cardinal sin of overstaying its welcome. I spent about five hours with Changing Tides, when half of that length would’ve been satisfactory. It also offers a few segments that I thought were the end, only to find that the game continued and dragged on after them.

Far: Changing Tides is the perfect example of a sequel that largely repeats what the first one did, except now it’s longer and more complicated. Maybe some players will admire the additional challenge and length, but I spent most of this adventure frustrated with the tedium. I will admit that the ending does tie a nice bow on things at the end, I just wish it got there sooner, and with less fuss.

Disclosures: This game is developed by Okomotive and published by Frontier Foundry. It is currently available on XBO/X/S, PS4/5, Switch and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PS4. Approximately 5 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E. Far: Changing Tides only features once instance of mature content where the player stumbles upon a human body that appears to be dead. There is no dialogue or text to explain the scenario, and the character model is not detailed to show violence or a graphic death. Even with this short instance appearing, I think the game is still approachable to all ages. However, Changing Tides doesn’t seem like a game created for young people to play. The post-apocalyptic adventure seems targeted toward a more mature audience. Also worth noting is that for players who might have phobias involving diving underwater or sailing open waters, this might be one to skip. There are no shark attacks or any threat of drowning (the protagonist has a diving suit) but it still could be triggering.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available

 Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game does not offer subtitles but it contains no spoken dialogue and no text or subtitles to caption any sounds. I think this game would be extremely friendly given that it’s driven by visuals and playable mechanics. Joel Schoch’s score crescendos sometimes as the boat picks up speed, but it’s not an integral part of gameplay.

Remappable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable.

HIGH The writing continues to be outstanding.

LOW Some sidequests feel like obnoxious padding.

WTF No one else notices the infected citizens? No one?

Halcyon Helen is an intergalactic star. She’s the main character of what The Outer Worlds calls serials – essentially, soap operas for their universe. She’s looked up to by many for providing investigative shows people that help people forget their busy and miserable lives. And at the beginning of The Outer Worlds’ final DLC entry Murder on Eridanos — she’s also dead.

While on a promotional tour for a new liquor brand, Helen is tragically murdered by an unknown assailant in her hotel’s ballroom. The planet’s authorities waste no time in hiring the best freelancer in the galaxy — the player! — to investigate her murder, and so the mystery begins!

From the jump, developer Obsidian’s clever writing is on full display as one of the first steps in this DLC is taking a video call from Eridanos authorities as they attempt to hire me for the investigation. The messy call plays out in hilarious fashion as key players try to undermine each other to get on my good side. Despite the grim subject matter, the characterization and writing is witty and upbeat throughout. A few throwaway lines by extremely low-level NPCs even had me setting my controller down because I was laughing so hard. Obsidian, the writing staff and voice actors continue to bring their A-game.

Mechanically, Murder on Eridanos doesn’t deviate from what players should expect from The Outer Worlds. The existing pillars of gameplay are exploring, shooting and talking, but because the DLC focuses on solving the mystery, Eridanos emphasizes exploration and talking over shooting. Combat is still sprinkled throughout, but I think if Obsidian had taken a risk by including very little (or no) combat it would’ve paid off with a more streamlined and cohesive package.

Talking works well in Eridanos because the key suspects feel real and multifaceted. Each suspect could have reasons for wanting to murder Helen and must be vetted to determine who had the most compelling motive. On top of that, Eridanos does a great job of fleshing out Helen — at a certain point the celebrity persona of Halcyon Helen ends and the real woman behind her begins. As I interviewed hotel staff, her costars, an athlete she dated and more, I began to understand that Helen wasn’t just a bimbo actress. Was she possibly murdered due to something dark going on behind the scenes?

However, other parts of the script aren’t as compelling or cohesive. One interesting subplot involves citizens’ minds being altered by a parasite and the intrigue is only exacerbated by no one on the planet seeming to notice. This infection occasionally culminates in NPCs going full aggro and needing to be killed, but I felt strange murdering these ordinary people just for falling victim to a parasite. Although the issue is eventually addressed, Eridanos doesn’t present a way to incapacitate these poor people, and because no one else on the planet seemed to care, I couldn’t ask anyone about it.

Also the second half of Eridanos dragged for me. Because much emphasis is placed on going back and forth across the planet to interview suspects, I found myself staring at a lot of loading screens as I fast-traveled everywhere. Go to the map, fast travel, load screen, enter a building, load screen, talk to someone and exit, load screen, fast travel somewhere else, load screen.

This was all punctuated by a few completely unnecessary sidequests that boil down to tasks with literally no story impact. Eridanos took me about 10 hours to complete, but some of the fat could’ve been trimmed for a leaner experience. Of course, the side quests are optional, but it was hard to tell which would flesh out the bigger picture on Eridanos and which existed only to pad the gameplay, so I ended up doing all of them thinking that they’d serve the story in some way — but they didn’t.

Murder on Eridanos is an interesting way to put a bow on The Outer Worlds. Instead of a balls-to-the-wall action finale, it offers up a slower-paced mystery that showcases what Obsidian is best at – writing and acting. Although it makes some missteps and the pacing could be better, I enjoyed uncovering the mystery. Regardless of all else, Obsidian is nearly in a league of their own when it comes to writing. and experiencing more of their work is always enjoyable.

Disclosures: This game is developed by Obsidian and published by Private Division This copy of the DLC was obtained via publisher and reviewed on PS4. Approximately 10 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated M with descriptors for Strong Language, Intense Violence, and Blood and Gore. The official ESRB description is as follows: “This is an action role-playing game in which players assume the role of a colonist in a space colony. From a first-person perspective, players explore an open-world environment, interact with characters, complete mission objectives, and battle alien creatures. Players use blasters, machine guns, and shotguns to kill creatures and human enemies in frenetic combat; action is highlighted by slow-motion and blood-splatter effects. Players can also shoot and kill civilians, though this may negatively affect players’ progress. Some attacks result in decapitation and dismemberment of creatures. The words “f**k,” “sh*t,” and “a*shole” are heard throughout the game.“

Colorblind Modes: According to Obsidian, the game was explicitly designed to be playable independent of color information. However, it has no colorblind modes selectable..

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: All dialogue, cinematics, and combat barks are reflected in text and visual interface elements. User Interface and subtitle text can be changed among 11 sizes. There are no audio cues needed for gameplay, though some enemies may attack players from behind. This game is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: On PS4, the controls are not customizable, however the game has four control maps with a right- or left-hand option available for each setting. Y and X Axes can be standard or inverted and many control stick sensitivity and dead zone sliders are available.

HIGH Some Mission Stories have unexpected narrative payoffs.

LOW None of the new maps blew me away.

WTF Story leaps between missions can be jarring.

Back in 2018 when I reviewed Hitman 2 for GameCritics, my closing line was “I feel confident that 47’s best is yet to come.” Now that IO Interactive has released the finale in its new Hitman Trilogy, was my prediction correct? Not really, but I can say that this new entry is a quality game on its own terms and a worthy addition to the canon.

In Hitman 3, players are back in the expertly-tailored suit of Agent 47 as he hops around the globe to six new locations that task him with assassinating a variety of targets. As usual, the action is of the third-person variety as 47 stalks each locale while donning disguises, learning a target’s location and routine, and mapping the quickest way out after a hit. This is all largely par for the course, for good or for ill.

Perhaps the best thing I can say about Hitman 3 is that this iteration nails the feeling of playing through a cinematic action-spy thriller. Each mission features flashes of Mission: Impossible, James Bond, John Wick and… oddly enough, Knives Out? Considering IO’s next task literally is to bring James Bond back to videogames, it seems like Hitman 3 was a bit of early prep-work for them.

Considering Hitman lives and dies by its maps, I’m slightly disappointed to say that the high I felt exploring Sapienza in Hitman 2016 isn’t matched here, but some come close. I found the rainy, Blade Runner-esque Chinese city to be particularly delicious, and the seedy, multilayered nightclub in Berlin got my blood pumping in time with the DJ’s rhythmic bass beats.

Along with these, 47 also visits the tallest skyscraper in Dubai, a dusty English manor, a lush Argentinian vineyard and a white-knuckle finale location which I don’t want to spoil here. Most maps are labyrinthine affairs in true Hitman form, but none are as gargantuan as previous offerings like the aforementioned Sapienza or Mumbai.

I’ve written at length in past reviews about how disappointing I find most of Hitman‘s stories, and 3’s is only slightly above-average. In the current trilogy, Agent 47 and his handler Diana Burnwood have taken contracts from a shadow client that led them down a path featuring hints of 47’s past and of an Illuminati-like group pulling society’s strings. Although I wouldn’t call this plot great, it offers variety by forcing 47 into both proactive revenge scenarios and sequences where he’s flying by the seat of his pants when things don’t go according to plan. The mission-to-mission balance is perfect.

In terms of how the story is told, I did find some story leaps between missions that took some strange liberties. One particular cutscene which I won’t spoil felt like it could have been an entire mission itself. It came out of nowhere, was oddly action-oriented and forwarded a major story moment in a rushed and clumsy way. Other oddness includes mission briefings which are delivered by other characters, making the narrative feel disjointed. However, when the trilogy is viewed as one package rather than separate entries, it makes more sense.

Looking at the gameplay, most locations have three “Mission Stories” that can be activated to give players a trail of objectives to follow in order to discover some of Hitman’s more over-the-top kills. These scenarios can be turned off completely for those who prefer a freeform do-it-yourself experience, or they can be altered to give the player hints without any on-screen waypoints. I find these are a perfect way to acclimate newcomers who might otherwise be intimidated by Hitman‘s formula, while still giving series vets the option to ignore them and play around in each lethal sandbox.

Apart from being good starting places for those who need an ‘in’ to each location, some Mission Stories shocked me — many of them were quite interesting and involved major characters. I won’t spoil them here other than to say the Argentinian vineyard has some kick-ass moments I never would have seen had I not completed certain Stories.

At this point, players who’ve dipped into Hitman before might be wondering what’s actually new, since what I’ve described so far has all been as-expected.

So, fresh to the series is a camera that 47 has equipped in every mission. It can snap pictures which can complete certain objectives or challenges, but it’s also used in unexpected ways. Focusing the camera on certain panels or windows can hack, open or disrupt them. At other times it’s used to scan for evidence similar to Batman’s “Detective Vision” in the Arkham games. Evidence scanning is nice, but the panel unlocking was only used abundantly in one level. However, I found it baffling that despite this camera there’s no dedicated photo mode and 47 can’t even flip it around to take a selfie! Disappointing.

Hitman 3 also features a handful of numeric key-code panels where players must find or overhear the codes to use them. At first I thought these were clever, but they’re not generated dynamically, meaning that they stay the same on every attempt, negating the need to strategically find the info.

Shortcuts are another new addition. In certain areas, players can open one-sided doors or break locks to access ladders. These shortcuts remain open for future playthroughs, but they were rarely very useful.

Overall, Hitman 3‘s genuinely new additions are nice, but none are gamechangers. Also less-than-impressive are the unlocks that incentivize replay. Most missions have 20 levels of completion with rewards such as new starting areas and different equipment to use as players gain XP.

As I previously felt with Hitman 2, much of this gear is repetitive and useless. How many times will I want to earn a reskinned lockpick, a differently-colored pistol or yet another poison that’s identical to one I’ve already unlocked two times before? Considering nearly everything in Hitman can be achieved without firing a single bullet, I knew that I’d never use most of these rewards. I was hoping that by now IO would start to get wacky and give me some wild items like a laser gun, a rocket launcher or anything other than another silenced pistol, but here we are – I’ve got a suitcase full of guns and no desire to use them.

Despite these complaints and the overall sameness of the content, I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t have a blast playing Hitman 3. Going into a mission for the first time, spending an hour doing recon and another 30 minutes carefully executing my plans only to exit the mission and discover I still had a quarter of the map to explore never ceases to dazzle me. IO’s Hitman formula taps into a very specific part of my brain that other games rarely do, and even if they keep giving me more of the same in new maps, their locations are so lush and full of twists and secrets in every corner that I don’t feel satisfied until I’ve played each mission a multitude of times.

An efficient (i.e. — boring) playthrough of Hitman 3 could probably be finished in a few hours for players who know what they’re doing, so the fact that I’ve spent more than 30 hours in six maps trying to master each one says everything about how much I love this series. However, despite how much I love Hitman as a whole, I can’t deny that the middling innovations and repeat rewards are starting to make 47’s adventures feel slightly stale.

Disclosures: This game is developed and published by IO Interactive. It is currently available on XBO, XBX, PS4, PS5, Switch and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PS4. Approximately 30 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated M and contains Blood, Drug Reference, Intense Violence and Strong Language. The official ESRB description reads as follows: This is a stealth action game in which players assume the role of an assassin (Agent 47) tasked with eliminating targets through a variety of missions. From a third-person perspective, players use pistols, machine guns, sniper rifles, and melee weapons to kill targets. Players can eliminate victims using stealth (e.g., stabbing/strangling), and other covert methods (e.g., poisoned drinks, disguises, sabotaged devices). Environmental objects such as wood chippers and compactors can be used to dispose of bodies, resulting in large blood-splatter effects. Blood effects occur frequently during combat, and pooling appears under corpses. Players have the ability to kill civilians, though these actions may negatively affect players’ progress. Some missions involve infiltrating a drug operation and luring victims by trying to sell them drugs; players can acquire a brick of cocaine but are not able to use it. The words “f**k” and “sh*t” appear in the dialogue.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available

 Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles. The subtitles can be resized to multiple options. Objects that can be interacted with in the environment also feature three text sizes that can be set independently of the subtitle sizes. The screenshots show the smallest subtitles and smallest interaction icons in one shot and largest subtitles and largest interaction icons in the other shot. It’s worth noting other HUD elements, such as Target names, Challenge names and the mini map cannot be altered in size.

All dialogue in the game is subtitled, but I often found subtitles reacting strangely. Sometimes if I were standing around multiple people, a conversation from farther away would show up in subtitles, rather than a more important conversation happening closer to me. Sometimes mission challenges engage upon overhearing conversations, and I’d often see the challenge HUD marker pop up without ever hearing or seeing the subtitles for the conversation that triggered it.

For combat and recon, the mini-map in the corner does a good job of displaying visual information for alerts. It’ll show “Trespassing”, “Searching” or other words to let players know various enemy alert stages. Also, when enemies are alarmed or searching, question marks or exclamation marks will appear above their heads.

Finally, Hitman 2 has a yellow and red visual arrow that grows in size the more someone becomes aware of players if they’re suspicious. Despite these visual accommodations, I think Hitman will still be slightly more difficult for players with hearing difficulties.

While playing with low volume, I found Hitman’s Instinct Mode (which can be used infinitely) to be immensely helpful. Instinct greys out the world and shows outlines of NPCs within a large radius of Agent 47, even if they’re in other rooms or on other floors. Instinct Mode also shows suspicious enemies colored in yellow instead of grey to assist with visual representation. Targets in the map are always shaded red in Instinct.

Remappable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable. X and Y axes can be set to standard or inverted, control stick sensitivity can be adjusted, snap aiming and aim assist can be toggled and the Left Trigger Aim button can be set to Hold for Aim or Toggle for Aim.

HIGH The crisscrossing tale of a corporate cover-up.

LOW Zero onboarding assistance after a year.

WTF The speech check challenges seem unusually difficult?

Is it just me, or should videogame developers band together and forge a standard operating procedure for onboarding players into DLC that comes long after the initial game’s release? I’m awfully tired of finishing something, forgetting about it, and then picking up some late-arriving DLC a year later and having no idea what the hell I’m doing.

Maybe an option to replay a tutorial? An opening scene in every DLC to get me familiar with the controls and story again? A cutscene to refresh my memory on quests, factions and alliances?

I can’t say I have all the answers, but I can say that The Outer Worlds’ DLC Peril on Gorgon is the latest in a long line of titles thrusting me back into their universes for a new adventure with no proper re-entry after I’ve long forgotten what happened and what I’m supposed to do. Developers might hope that players remember the entire game up to that point, but in the year since I played it, a lot has happened (see: 2020) and my memory is only so sharp.

This problem isn’t isolated to ToW specifically, but it did have two distinct barriers for entry when I loaded up Peril on Gorgon.

The first issue is that I had completely forgotten that the original campaign has a finite endpoint, and finding a save that would let me start the content was a matter of trial and error. The one that worked was near the end before the final, climactic quest. This meant I felt immediately out of place knowing that I was a step away from the high stakes finale and had to put that story on hold at its eleventh hour to do the DLC.

My second issue is that ToW gave me zero clues as to how to start the new quest. The game features a planet-hopping ship and multiple locations to visit, so I had to travel to two random planets before the onboard computer would alert me to the new quest’s existence. Strange.

However, despite all my complaints about clumsily implementing DLC, I must say that when Peril on Gorgon finally got going, it was an entertaining ride.

For those who need a refresher on The Outer Worlds, I’ll point you to Josh Tolentino’s review. This review will cover only Peril on Gorgon.

This add-on begins when events lead the player to a moon that was thought to be deserted. The daughter of a corporate scientist went missing, so the player is hired to find out what happened. Because TOW is a capitalism satire, the mom was working on an experimental drug aimed at energizing the working class for their factory jobs. What could go wrong? A lot, it turns out.

As with any Obsidan-penned story, not everything is as it seems, and the quests took many twists and turns as I explored the moon and talked to its inhabitants. I won’t spoil anything here, but the DLC’s conclusion wasn’t nearly as predictable as I expected it to be.

Mechanically, Gorgon is classic ‘more-of-the-same’ DLC, and that’s not a criticism. This meaty 10-hour quest also features the same gameplay as the main campaign – exploring new areas, fighting both humans and monsters on different planets and schmoozing with locals to gain information about the corporations.

If I have any specific complaints about the content itself, it’s that new weapons, armor and perks are introduced but I didn’t find any equipment I preferred over what I was already using.

On top of that, Obsidian raised the level cap from 30 to 33 for the DLC, which seems stingy to me. I had reached Level 30 well before starting the DLC, and only leveling up three times over the 10 hours I spent with it was a disappointment. A higher level cap would have been preferred.

With that said, I admit that my complaints are little more than splitting because I did enjoy Peril on Gorgon.

The hours spent uncovering a science experiment gone wrong kept me invested, not to mention the sidestories that were also available — if I needed a break from dangerous drug labs I could track down documents from a reporter, assist a search party, break up an argument in a bar and more. Players who enjoyed The Outer Worlds and are itching for a reason to jump back in will find Peril on Gorgon a perfectly good reason to do so — just try to refresh your memory as best you can first.

Disclosures: This game is developed by Obsidian and published by Private Division This copy of the DLC was obtained via publisher and reviewed on PS4. Approximately 10 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated M with descriptors for Strong Language, Intense Violence, and Blood and Gore. The official ESRB description is as follows: “This is an action role-playing game in which players assume the role of a colonist in a space colony. From a first-person perspective, players explore an open-world environment, interact with characters, complete mission objectives, and battle alien creatures. Players use blasters, machine guns, and shotguns to kill creatures and human enemies in frenetic combat; action is highlighted by slow-motion and blood-splatter effects. Players can also shoot and kill civilians, though this may negatively affect players’ progress. Some attacks result in decapitation and dismemberment of creatures. The words “f**k,” “sh*t,” and “a*shole” are heard throughout the game.“

Colorblind Modes: According to Obsidian, the game was explicitly designed to be playable independent of color information. However, it has no colorblind modes selectable..

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: All dialogue, cinematics, and combat barks are reflected in text and visual interface elements. User Interface and subtitle text can be changed among 11 sizes. There are no audio cues needed for gameplay, though some enemies may attack players from behind.

Remappable Controls: On PS4, the controls are not customizable, however the game has four control maps with a right- or left-hand option available for each setting. Y and X Axes can be standard or inverted and many control stick sensitivity and dead zone sliders are available.

HIGH The unexpected survival-horror segment.

LOW Getting stuck in the environment multiple times.

WTF Why stick to the Portal playbook so closely?

After playing videogames for the better part of 25 years, it’s hard to find something that feels fresh. Trends come and go and new genres appear, but I’m rarely swept away by something that is an iteration of something I already know. However, I’m happy to say that Superliminal, Pillow Castle’s debut title, is a fresh new thing for me.

Superliminal is a first-person narrative puzzler that leads players to believe they’re proceeding through lucid dream exercises in a sleep therapy lab for a multitude of reasons – most notably for anxiety and stress control. However, things go sideways when the player gets trapped in a cycle of dreams and must navigate them to come back to reality.

Superliminal’s puzzles are based around forced perspectives and optical illusions, and many challenges require the player to pick up an item and change its size by moving it around relative to the character. This feels impossible to effectively convey in text, but trust me — once a player sees it, it immediately makes sense.

For example, if a small chess piece sits on a table, I could get very close to it before picking it up (to make it look big) and when I drop it, suddenly the piece would be much larger. Alternatively, if I walked to the other side of the room to make the chess piece look smaller based on my spatial relation to it, I could pick it up (no matter from how far away) and it would be that small in my hands.

Other puzzles involve items that clone when they’re picked up and have to be used in creative ways, while some required me to move and reshape objects to climb and reach new areas.

I knew about these mechanics beforehand and feared that they might be too smart for me, or that I’d get stuck often. To my relief, I only had to consult a walkthrough once! While other titles might have relied upon these mechanics as gimmicks, Superliminal uses its forced perspective tricks in ways that only get more interesting as the game proceeds.

However, it’s inevitable that a ‘scientific test-chamber’ game like this would be compared to Valve’s seminal Portal, and it feels like Pillow Castle are a little too close to that playbook. The general room-by-room structure is similar, and sometimes Superliminal would give the impression that I was breaking the fourth wall of its world in the way Portal did. Perhaps most notably, Superliminal features voiceovers to guide players and provide context for the adventure. I raised an eyebrow when one of the two voices was robotic and feminine. The intent here may have been homage, but it draws too much inspiration and takes it a little too far.

While I can forgive the Portal flavor since that release is more than a decade behind us (and hey, if one is going to steal, steal from the best!) but what I can’t forgive are sections that feel like they barely hold together in terms of how they’re constructed in-engine. Due to Superliminal’s reality-bending nature I expected some hiccups, but I didn’t expect to get stuck in the environment multiple times, requiring a manual reset for every one. It also completely froze on me in a handful of instances.

However, complaints aside Superliminal just feels magical to play. I can’t count the times my eyes widened and I let out an “Aaahhhh!” upon discovering some unexpected twist in the ever-expanding creative environments. It also got in my head, causing me to question what was real and what’s not.

Superliminal truly feels like a whimsical dream – it might base itself in mundane reality at first, but it doesn’t take long before that goes out the window and fantastic elements start to flourish, and I already wish I could experience it again for the first time.

Disclosures: This game is developed and published by Pillow Castle. It is currently available on PC, PS4, XBO and Switch. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on PS4. Approximately 6 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed twice. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E and contains Mild Blood. I find Superliminal to be suitable for everyone The mild blood referenced is during a small survival-horror section, but there is no violence or gore related to it. There are some puddles of cartoonish red liquid on the floor in a few spots and a red handprint on a door. I don’t find these instances too scary for any age.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available in the options.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: Superliminal features subtitles for all spoken dialogue in the game. The subtitles cannot be resized. Story mostly takes a backseat to visual elements. I don’t find that this game would be more difficult for Deaf players as there are no vital audio cues and much of Superliminal is about looking around and exploring the environments.

Remappable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable. there is no control diagram. Look sensitivity can be adjusted on PS4 and the Y-Axis can be set to standard or inverted. The game has no controller map screen, but the controls are rather simplistic. The twin joysticks move the player much like any first-person game. The X button jumps and a face button and/or shoulder button can be used to pick up and put down objects. A photo of the control options is below.

HIGH The satisfying throwing knife pick-up animation.

LOW Little variation in an overlong game.

WTF Undefeatable enemies!?

In the years I’ve written for GameCritics, I’ve awarded only one perfect score — just one single, flawless game I’ve championed above all else. The original SUPERHOT received a 10/10 from me, I would absolutely recommend it, and I have.

In fact, I trot it out for everyone when I have friends over. It doesn’t matter if the person is an elite World of Warcraft veteran, a Call of Duty multiplayer bro or someone who hasn’t played a game in years. SUPERHOT is a rare, fresh experience that feels like it transcends the medium – a perfect, truly original title without an ounce of fat on its bones… And don’t get me started on the VR version which, as far as I’m concerned, is a masterpiece killer app.

Somewhere after the vortex of SUPERHOT and the VR version, the developers squeaked out a new work called SUPERHOT: Mind Control Delete on Steam. Despite being on my wishlist for years, I never picked it up because it was stuck in Early Access for what felt like an eternity, and I don’t want to pay for an unfinished game.

Now, Mind Control Delete is finally, officially launching. After four years since the original, what can the team bring to the table now? More SUPERHOT.

Mind Control Delete takes the bones of SUPERHOT, a puzzle-shooter in which time only moves when the player moves, and turns it into an arcade roguelite. Considering how airtight the original was, I can’t say I expected them to make another concise, fourth-wall breaking game, but Mind Control Delete is up-front about letting the player know it doesn’t have any story — it’s just one cluster of levels after another until the game ends.

What it adds to the original template is meager – new weapons, some new enemy types, new maps and hacks that let players upgrade specific things.

The roguelite aspect comes into play in its structure. Players move through a retro computer interface of branching nodes, and when they click on a node, a cluster of levels begins. Players get two lives, and each cluster usually contains between 5-8 levels. Sometimes players can select between two upgrades to apply to the character, and additional upgrades can be earned, but these upgrades only last for the current level cluster.

Some upgrades are entertaining, such as thrown items exploding upon impact or starting every level with a random gun. Other, sillier varieties include jumping on enemies to kill them, or bullets ricocheting off walls.

New enemy types include bots with certain limbs that must be struck to inflict damage, enemies whose guns shatter when they die, and the incredibly terrifying bots that explode into a flurry of bullets when destroyed. In late-game levels, some enemies spawn that can’t be killed, and I didn’t enjoy those one bit.

At its core, I found Mind Control Delete to feel like a warm, familiar blanket. I still pumped my fist in the air after particularly challenging levels and still found my palms sweating when I thought for sure I’d meet my demise, just like they did in SUPERHOT. Those are good feelings, but the problem with Mind Control Delete is that it’s too long and never gave me a reason to keep playing apart from the simple act of playing more.

I spent about nine hours with it altogether, and I would have been fine if it were half as long, especially when taking into account that the original lasted only about two hours.

Some flashes of brilliance pop up, like when familiar maps become distorted and bend as the player navigates through them, and an endgame challenge that I won’t spoil had me wishing there was an audience to witness my victory. Moments like these are few and far between – instead, players get an experience that repeats itself too often, and with little variation.

I lost count of the amount of times I gunned down red polygonal bots in a subway, a bank, a dojo, the same subway again, an office, a nightclub, and then that subway again until I felt numb. Turning what was a sharp, crafted experience into a roguelite that pieces premade sections together becomes an exercise in repetition, and after shooting a dozen red bots in a map I’d already cycled through twenty times, I just grew tired of it.

Mind Control Delete ultimately feels like an arcade-mode add-on that should’ve been included with the original release. Although it’s novel, I value the original’s audacity in presenting a brilliant idea without wasting any of my time. Mind Control Delete feels like the antithesis of that – it’s a bloated diversion that exists to provide more hours of gameplay without any larger purpose. It’s just more for the sake of more, and after my time with it, I’d say it’s actually too much, too late.

Disclosures: This game is developed and published by SUPERHOT Team. It is currently available on PC, PS4 and XBO. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on PC. Approximately 9 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated T and contains Violence. At its core, SUPERHOT: Mind Control Delete features shooting, stabbing, punching and throwing items at enemies, but all enemies are red polygonal figures and there’s no blood or gore. I think this game is appropriate for all ages with parental supervision.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available in the options.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: Mind Control Delete features no dialogue and no cutscenes. There is text on the screen in some areas, but it’s for navigating the interface and not to forward the story. Deaf or hard-of-hearing players won’t lose story context because there is no story. There are a few specific sound cues during gameplay that are important and might affect gameplay — some levels contain mine-like patches that explode when players get to close, and they beep faster as the player draws near. They can be seen and are bright red, but I generally relied on the sound cue over the visuals. Additionally, sometimes unkillable enemies will spawn in a level, and a very distinct sound cue rings when they spawn in. I always relied on this sound to alert me to these enemies because they’re difficult and must be avoided. Lastly, enemies’ gunshots from off-screen are important to hear in case I needed to spin around and see if bullets were flying my direction. There are no visual cues that show bullets from off-screen coming toward the player. Ultimately, I think Mind Control Delete will be more difficult for hard-of-hearing players but nowhere near impossible.

Remappable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable. On PC, the only controller options are mouse/joystick sensitivity and inverting the Y-axis. There is no button-map for the game, but the controls are simplistic. On PC, with mouse and keyboard, the WASD keys move the player in the same way as most first-person games, the SPACE BAR is a jump button, the LEFT MOUSE BUTTON is shoot/attack and RIGHT MOUSE button throws an object. With a controller the layout is similar with the analogue sticks moving and turning the player the shoulder buttons attacking and throwing and the X(PS4) or A(XBO) jumping.

HIGH The combat consistently made my pulse pound.

LOW The checkpoint system.

WTF That… was the ending?

I’ve never had much faith in Remedy. Although their games are consistently successful and boast (generally) positive scores, their previous two titles, Alan Wake and Quantum Break, both left a bad taste in my mouth. In fact, it was a taste so disappointing that I was iffy on playing Control and not trusting the pre-release hype. I even hesitated on saying “yes” to a free review copy. Was it possible for me to be any more skeptical? Probably not.

However, when I’m wrong I’m the first to admit it, and I now get to dine on a bowl full of crow because after finishing Control, I have no choice but to champion it as both a breath of fresh air and probably the best game Remedy has ever produced.

Ordinarily, here is where I would proclaim Control’s protagonist the star of the show and give a description, but the real main character here isn’t Jesse Faden, the red-haired woman on the front of the box. No, the real protagonist is The Oldest House — the New York skyscraper the campaign takes place in.

This eerie building houses The Federal Bureau of Control, and once players are inside, it doesn’t take long to notice that the laws of time, space and physics don’t apply. Things only get weirder as Jesse descends deeper down this bizarre transdimensional rabbithole.

Inside The Oldest House some rooms are several stories high, some are tight cubicle-laced offices, and others appear to be completely outdoors — starry sky above and all. The Bureau features multiple departments that each have a distinct flavor, but the building as a whole never loses its identity. It’s easy to tell Remedy thought through each area carefully and designed them all with tight cohesion.

The art direction is impeccable, but Remedy also paces Control in a way that lets it breathe to encourage exploration. Yes, there is plenty of shooty-bang action, but roughly 40% of my time was spent running around, exploring, platforming, chatting with NPCs and doing light puzzle-solving. Control isn’t just balls-to-the-wall action, and it’s better for it. However, there’s no denying that the action kicks the doors off their hinges.

Although the combat might initially seem like standard third-person fare, the tightness and intensity of each shootout had me pumped — nearly every enemy encounter made me sweat. I don’t often experience adrenaline rushes from combat in games, but Control hits a perfect sweet spot that got my pulse racing.

Almost immediately after entering The Oldest House Jesse finds a supernatural gun with unlockable modes (machine gun, shotgun, explosive, etc…) and she also gains special powers over the course of the adventure that provide balance to Control’s combat — things like a shield to guard her when she’s exposed, or picking up random items with telekinesis to use as projectiles. Lifting a computer monitor in the air and launching it an enemy so aggressively it blows them off their feet never gets old.

Jesse’s magic gun recharges its ammo (no pickups or reloads here!) and her special powers pull from a separate recharging gauge, so combat often alternates between bullets and abilities to keep Jesse active in the fight. In a refreshing move, Control also features no cover system — it’s all frenetic run-and-gun, and it feels damn good to play something so unapologetic about it.

Despite the tight aesthetics and intense combat, Control isn’t quite a true homerun for me for a few reasons. Perhaps its worst mistake is the checkpoint system.

When Jesse enters a new area, there’s usually a checkpoint that she must unlock to use as a save and fast-travel point. Despite an autosave icon blinking regularly in the corner, anytime Jesse dies, she resurrects at one of these checkpoints instead of immediately before a fatal encounter. This means that if I traveled through ten rooms with multiple enemy ambushes before things went south, I’d have to go through it all again to get back to where I died.

Another aspect of Control that rubs me the wrong way is the story itself — I wish the amount of energy that went into visual design was matched by the script. 

Jesse meets a cast’s worth of characters during Control and not only did I fail to care about any of them, I didn’t care about Jesse herself. However, she’s not unlikable — just boring. Also, once the story wrapped, it didn’t hold together, and the amount of files and audio clips planted around the world is embarrassing. With such a beautiful environment and tight action, the last thing I want to do is spend time reading files with information that isn’t effectively woven into the narrative.

Last but not least, that ending? If I can even call it that? Remedy didn’t waste time announcing DLC, so I can only expect they’re saving the real finale for one of those. I won’t be holding my breath though — the complete lack of payoff felt like a slap in the face.

Even with these complaints, Control feels successful, fresh and, most importantly, like a game I won’t be forgetting anytime soon. The world is so carefully crafted and the combat so great, they both carry all the weight the story doesn’t, and then some. After being unimpressed with Remedy’s previous work, Control feels like a powerful final draft after those early false starts and marks a strong new creative direction for the studio.

Disclosures: This game is developed by Remedy and published by 505 Games. It is currently available on PC, PS4 and XBO. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PS4. Approximately 15 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated M and contains Blood, Strong Language and Violence. Control might be rated M, but I didn’t experience anything memorable that some T-rated games like Uncharted don’t get away with. There is violence and language, but none of it is over-the-top. I don’t see any problem with early teenagers playing this with some adult supervision.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes but an option to toggle enemies’ health bars between red or yellow exists.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: Control features subtitles in three different sizes for all spoken dialogue in the game. It also features an option to put a shaded box behind the subtitles for better clarity. Control features text-overlay options for signs in the world, but the subtitle size changes do not affect the sign overlay text size. Control is more difficult without sound due to a drastic music change that signals when enemies are on the attack and when they’re asbent. This music change has no visual cue. Also, Control includes three options for subtitle sizes, the largest is shown below.

Remappable Controls: Yes, this game offers fully remappable controls on the PS4 version. Y and X-Axes and stick sensitivity can be changed. A picture of the PS4’s controller setup is below.

HIGH A new story with similar gameplay.

LOW The unpredictable chase sequences.

WTF Why can’t I open a door with a single button press?

Has it already been three years since the first Layers of Fear?

What started as a game that lingered forever on the Xbox One Preview Program has now seen follow-up DLC, a Masterpiece Edition, a port to the Switch, and a full-fledged sequel in the years since its debut. Developer Bloober Team even released an original sci-fi horror IP (Observer) since then. Long story short, they’ve been busy in those three years. Maybe too busy?

I loved Layers of Fear and championed it as the closest thing to P.T. we’re ever going to get, as it featured first-person horror exploration that relied on more than jumpscares to creep players out. The trick was environmental ambiguity which changed aspects of the immediate vicinity to keep players on their toes — walk down a hallway, find a locked door, and then turn around only to find the hallway changed completely. It also didn’t rely on chase sequences, stealthy hide-from-patrolling-monster sections, nor combat. These were all winning decisions for me.

Layers of Fear 2 follows in the footsteps of the first, except instead of an elderly painter descending into madness, players take the role (pun intended) of an actor who’s accepted a job aboard a cruise ship. I enjoy it when sequels jump off in a new direction instead of directly following their predecessors, so I wish I could say that Layers of Fear 2 is better, scarier and more creative than the first. Unfortunately I can’t.

Where the first felt carefully handcrafted by clever designers, Layers of Fear 2 feels like the product of an AI designing via ‘horror’ algorithm. Walk through a door, pick up a random item, listen to a voiceover from an unidentified character. Walk through another door, pick up another item, listen to another audiolog. Find a locked door, pick up a key in the next room, unlock the door, find another item… wash, rinse and repeat until the credits roll.

The only events breaking up this string of linear, boring hallways are the chase sequences which are so bad I nearly quit playing over them. I can only guess Bloober Team received feedback about the first Layers from people who thought it was too easy, but this new addition only adds frustration.

The main issue with it is mechanical. Instead of opening a door with a single button press or mouse click, Layers 2 requires positioning the cursor over the door, holding a mouse button and pushing the mouse in the correct direction to open it. Sometimes doors opened toward me, sometimes away, and other times they slid open left or right. This overly-complicated control scheme combined with a monster hot on my heels with an insta-kill does not equal good design.

Worse, the chases aren’t telegraphed the first time they appear, so I felt out of my element when they came around. Once they start, there’s no solid indicator for the rest of the game that a chase is about to happen, so any time a jumpscare or loud noise happened, I started sprinting my ass off thinking one was about to ensue.

The first Layers of Fear hit a sweet spot in slow exploration where I felt fear every time I turned a corner or opened a door. If a door was locked, I breathed a sigh of relief because I didn’t have to experience whatever horrors were on the other side. Layers of Fear 2 switches up that slow-burn horror with jumpscares leaving me dreading chase sequences. However, I wasn’t dreading them out of fear, but annoyance. I prefer to take my time creeping through horror titles, not dashing through so quickly that I don’t get to absorb the environments. Perhaps other players will enjoy this change, but it left me flustered and annoyed.

The story in Layers of Fear 2 feels as uninspired and confusing as its repetitive hallways. Aside from the actor taking a job on a cruise ship, I couldn’t glean much from found documents and audiologs. The people who narrate aren’t identified, and there’s also a ‘master’ narrator in the player’s head too, which only convoluted things further. Who are all these people, and why should I care about them? And are they sharing memories, or something else? Although the game kinda-sorta wraps up in the end, I still didn’t understand what was going on – I was just glad I didn’t have to endure any more chases once the credits started rolling.

Coming from someone who adored the first Layers of Fear, I was ready to love this sequel. Instead, I was disappointed by the dearth of creativity, an overreliance on ineffective audiologs and documents, and multiple insta-kill chases that frustrated me until the end. I used to considered Bloober Team to be the best up-and-coming horror developer around, but either the horror genre is evolving beyond them, or the last three too-busy years have burnt them out.

Disclosures: This game is developed by Bloober Team and published by Gun Media. It is currently available on PC, Playstation 4 and Xbox One. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PC. Approximately 6 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated M and contains Sexual Themes, Blood, Language and Intense Violence. Although I didn’t pick up on the sexual themes or much intense violence in the game, I wouldn’t recommend this for kids or immature players. Most of the game is meant to be suspenseful and it includes jumpscares, some horror imagery and chase sequences in which the player is running away from monsters.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available in the options.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: Like many horror games, this one uses sound cues and loud noises to punctuate creepy moments and jumpscares. I think it’s completely possible to play it without sound, but it might be slightly more difficult and lose some of its scary edge. Chase sequences exist and do feature fail-states, so players won’t immediately be cued in if they can’t hear the audio. Layers of Fear 2 includes multiple options for subtitle sizes.

Remappable Controls: Yes, this game offers fully remappable controls on the PC version.

HIGH Taking out two targets by derailing a train into them.

LOW The mess of a story attempting to link each level together.

WTF Agent 47 remaining undetected as a white guy wearing native costumes in foreign countries.

Agent 47 has come a long way over the series’ 18 year history, but zeroing in on the past two years alone — starting with IO Interactive’s 2016 reboot of the franchise, simply titled Hitman — the series and developer have been put through the wringer.

After a creative misstep with Hitman: Absolution in 2012, IO Interactive brought the series back to its roots in 2016 with large sandbox locations, extensive replay value and the sharp, black humor regularly interwoven throughout the series. Despite Hitman (2016) being what I’d consider the best the series has offered, IO’s publisher Square Enix dropped their years-long partnership in 2017. Luckily, IO came out relatively unscathed, kept the rights to Hitman and partnered with Warner Bros. to release Hitman 2.

Up until now, each Hitman has portrayed Agent 47 in some random slice of his life and showed a string of often-disconnected jobs before bowing out until the next game. This is the way I like Hitman. I don’t need a deep, personal story about Agent 47 and why he’s killing. To be frank, I don’t care. Agent 47 is a cool cucumber (helped largely in part by David Bateson supplying his voice for every game) and he exists well-enough on his own as a mysterious assassin. Most entries have realized that and kept his characterization to a minimum. Perhaps the only constant is 47’s established backstory of being a perfect lab-developed human clone bred for combat. It’s only brought up in nearly every game like a buff guy who mentions crossfit every chance he gets. Yet, despite its flashy guns and explosions, Hitman is a puzzler at heart. I certainly don’t need to know the emotional journey behind why the T-shaped Tetris piece went for a certain grid opening, nor do I need one for Agent 47’s adventures. Have fiber wire, will travel. End of story.

In a move that goes slightly against this grain, Hitman 2 not only picks up exactly where Hitman (2016) left off, but IO Interactive seems to be creating an ever-expanding Hitman universe by offering what they call the Legacy Pack. This is a separate download allowing players to import Hitman (2016)’s levels into Hitman 2 as one cohesive package. Not only are the old levels now available to play in Hitman 2, some gameplay innovations from Hitman 2 have been retrofitted into the old levels via slight redesigns. The Legacy Pack is a great idea, but it’s also a double-edged sword. More on that later.

Given that Hitman 2 continues from the previous game, I’d ordinarily put a spoiler warning here before discussing story specifics. But I have to be honest — I have no idea what’s going on in this game. Agent 47 and his long-time handler Diana are back executing assassinations all over the globe. There’s a shady organization doing shady things and 47 is trying to find out who they are? And kill them? …Or something? I’d try to take the story more seriously but it literally uses the term “Shadow Client” several times without a hint of self-awareness on how silly it is. I can’t be bothered to make sense of this narrative mess. Luckily, the story doesn’t detract from the overall package, but it also doesn’t add much meaning. I long for the days of Blood Money and Contracts that, more or less, didn’t bother with an overarching story at all.

Because the story doesn’t impact gameplay, the good news is Hitman 2 continues the excellence of what Hitman (2016) was doing. Agent 47 is dropped into several complex, multi-leveled, maze-like sandboxes in a third-person perspective, he’s given a few targets, and he’s set loose to execute them by any means.

My favorite thing about Hitman is its ability to let me get in, execute and get out without anyone ever knowing I was there — change disguises on the fly, poison someone’s drink, crush a target with a chandelier — and get out. However, Hitman 2, like most before it, provides players with so many tools that it’s possible to set off explosions, shoot through crowds or find a perfect vantage point and snipe targets from afar. The choice is reliant on the the player’s wit and creativity.

Hitman 2 launched with six missions and will offer some DLC down the line. I wouldn’t call any of the six missions here misses, but there are clear highlights.

The game opens with a small, intimate level set on a serene New Zealand beach at dusk with a beautiful modern house close by. Although it’s almost a tutorial mission, I wouldn’t hesitate to call it a perfect map. It doesn’t feature Hitman-staples of branching locations, skyscrapers, sewers or anything more than a two-story house, yet it’s still ripe with options for how to complete it.

From there it’s off to the races (literally) in a NASCAR-like race event in Florida, a cocaine-producing cartel in Colombia, a sprawling slice of inner-city Mumbai, an American suburb to explore, and it closes with an ancient castle on a stormy island. Most of the missions are classic Hitman with only the New Zealand opener and American neighborhood being slightly smaller. Although I adore exploring a gargantuan Hitman map, they can be overwhelming. Six levels feels relatively sufficient, but I wouldn’t complain if there were one or two more small levels to mix up the pacing a bit.

What Hitman 2 lacks in the sheer number of missions, it makes up for in size and replayability. Reusing the previous Hitman’s mastery system, players have the option to complete each mission several times and accomplishing various developer-set challenges. Completing enough rewards players with new gadgets, weapons and new starting locations for each mission, complete with pre-equipped disguises.

Speaking of gear, my biggest bone to pick comes from how it’s earned and the implementation of pre-existing gear from Hitman (2016) Legacy Pack missions. Although the Legacy Pack lets players import Hitman missions into Hitman 2, it doesn’t import any progress on those missions, nor the gear that was unlocked from them. They all must be played again several times in order to re-earn the same weapons and gadgets. That means the 40+ hours I spent mastering each stage to get lockpicks, bombs, pistols, sniper rifles and more are gone. Worse yet are the gear prizes in Hitman 2 that are direct copies of Hitman gear offered in a “Mk. II” version — these are literally the same rewards with a little red “2” on the side of them.

Come on, IO. Don’t deny us the fruits of our labor when importing hours of progress from Hitman, and don’t even try to fool us with the same gear again in Hitman 2. Honestly, this aspect feels like an insult after all of the the time I spent loving your game two years ago.

Furthermore, mastering missions several times over to unlock gear felt worthwhile and novel in the previous Hitman, but I’m already tired of it in Hitman 2. I miss the system from Blood Money that rewarded me with different cash payouts based on how flawlessly I completed a mission, and then let me spend it on what I wanted. It heightened my agency and skill because I knew a less frantic completion led to more profits, and more profits meant more possibility to kit myself out exactly the way I wanted. Now I must play a mission repeatedly and complete various challenges to unlock gear that’s rewarded arbitrarily — a gun here, a bomb there, with little rhyme or reason to it. There’s little incentive to replay if the reward is something that doesn’t fit my playstyle that I’ll never use. Given that 2016’s Hitman missions were released monthly, this system felt more at home there. With Hitman 2 being released all at once, it doesn’t make as much sense and definitely doesn’t hold the same appeal.

As for innovations, Hitman 2 is short on them, though what we did get was all welcome. For example, 47 can now crouch to remain concealed in waist-high vegetation, he automatically blends into crowds to lose suspicious guards, and his signature briefcase allows him to carry large gadgets (most notably, sniper rifles) around without alerting anyone. There’s also a picture-in-picture mode that shows players when something noteworthy is happening out of sight, but that’s about it. All great tweaks, but they’re just tweaks — nothing significantly new or changed here.

I can’t blame IO Interactive for not rewriting the book on Hitman this time around, nor would I want them to. 2016’s Hitman restored the series to its former greatness after a catastrophic stumble with Absolution, so it makes sense that they’d play it safe and deliver a Hitman 2 that’s largely more of the same. That said, despite the fact that I enjoy Hitman 2 and I’ve played the hell out of it, it ultimately feels more like an expansion to the previous installment rather than an official sequel. In this case, more of a good thing is not unwelcome, especially with a series as unique as Hitman. However, now that their publishing woes are behind them and the series is back on its feet again, I feel confident that 47’s best is yet to come. Rating: X out of 10

Disclosures: This game is developed by IO Interactive and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. It is currently available on Xbox One, Playstation 4 and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PS4. Approximately 40 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. Approximately 2 hours were spent with Hitman 2’s multiplayer mode — Ghost Mode.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated Mature and contains Blood, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Use of Drugs and Alcohol. Although long stretches of the game can feature non-violent recon, ultimately this game is about killing people. Deaths are more cartoon-like and never ultra-violent or unnecessarily bloody, but shooting, stabbing and injuring/killing people in various ways still comes into play. I wouldn’t recommend this for young audiences.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available in the options.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: The subtitles are customizable in 5 different sizes. It’s worth noting that although subtitle size can be changed, everything else on the HUD (objectives, mini-map, alerts) do not change in size. All dialogue in the game is subtitled, but I often found subtitles reacting strangely. Sometimes if I were standing around multiple people, a conversation from farther away would show up in subtitles and not a more important conversation happening closer to me. Sometimes mission challenges engage upon overhearing conversations too, and I’d often see the challenge HUD marker pop up without ever hearing or seeing the subtitles for the conversation that triggered it on the screen. For combat and recon, the mini-map in the corner does a good job of displaying visual information for alerts. It’ll show “Trespassing”, “Searching” or other words to let players know various enemy alert stages. Also when enemies are alarmed or searching, question marks or exclamation marks will appear above their heads. Finally, Hitman 2 has a visual arrow the grows in size the more someone becomes aware of players if they’re suspicious. Despite these visual accommodations, I think Hitman 2 will still be slightly more difficult for hard-of-hearing players. The two screenshots below represent the smallest subtitle size and the largest.

Remappable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable. The Y and X axes can be inverted or standard, and control stick sensitivity can be adjusted on a scale.