Posts By Mat Growcott

We bought a Steam Deck at Christmas, despite not really knowing how it’d get used. The answer surprised me and in the best way possible. As people once again discuss the viability of the Deck in modern gaming, those of us using it know that it doesn’t really matter.  Digital Foundry released a new video on the Steam Deck’s ability to play modern games including Horizon: Forbidden West, Final Fantasy XVI and Black Myth: Wukong. The result was ...

Man, the first half of this year is packed. The next month and a half is filled to the brim with games worth playing. From Avowed onwards, barely a week is going by without something major to bother our backlogs. Why is it so stacked? GTA6. A new Grand Theft Auto is coming out this year. And although we’ve only had a single trailer, the presumption right now is that it will hit its announced release date of 2025. That…

The rumour is that Xbox’s next console will be a PC in a “TV-friendly shell”.  It’s a gamble, and one that probably won’t pay off in any kind of big way. The good news is that Microsoft probably don’t expect it to, so everything will be built with that in mind. It’s been a long-standing rumour, now stood up by Jez Corden. It’s an interesting idea, but one that fans will be more excited by than the general ...

It’s the classic response each time someone mentions loving Final Fantasy VII. “Wait until you try Final Fantasy VI,” someone will inevitably say. “Makes VII look amateur.” And I’ve written that as politely as possible. I’ve seen too many hipster rants about the beauty of the SNES JRPG classics, and the message is simple. If you came in with the PlayStation games, you’ve missed out. There’s always been a ...

There have been a lot of op-ed pieces lately about the end of the console wars. With Xbox finding their own way and Sony and Nintendo representing different parts of the industry, it seems there’s now little reason to compare the big three. We’ll do it anyway though, eh? I started a segment on how the gaming industry will look very different in five years. But the reality – for those not deep in the trenches – is that the…

There’s been a lot of discussion lately around Tomb Raider, in part thanks to the wonderful re-releases by Aspyr. But there’s an issue that these remasters highlight: much of what we love about these classics has been left behind. I’m not going to spend the next 450 words harking back to the “better” days of discourse around whether you can get Lara naked or not using Xploder cheats. The gaming world got bigger, and so Lara had to ...

Combining the classic Warriors gameplay with the roguelike levels of hits like Hades, Warriors: Abyss is one of those “huh” moments that make so much sense on paper. Is it something anybody has ever asked for? Not that I’ve seen. But it’s impossible not to see the potential when it’s pitched right in front of you. Perhaps that’s why it’s a classic shadow drop game. The “available now” announcement meant ...

From the moment they were announced, the latest RTX 50XX series graphics cards were controversial. They’ve only become more so in the weeks since release. Announced alongside a bevvy of AI technologies, potential buyers were concerned over the difference between real frames and so-called “fake” frames. And although the distinction wasn’t especially convincing – show me what a “real” frame is and we’ll talk ...

Warriors Abyss is fantastic. A review will be coming in the next week or so, but the shadow dropped spin-off is well worth your time and money. Ultimately it’s a small budget affair but I can’t exaggerate what a breath of fresh air it is. I don’t know how successful it has been or how much money it needs to make back. But what I know is that after the far too wordy tutorial, this game just clicked. In a…

Has there ever been a game with so much pressure on it as Assassin’s Creed Shadows? Ubisoft need it to be a hit, and the difference it could make if its flops is gigantic. Not that there would be any kind of surprise in it doing well. This isn’t a Starfield level gamble, where you have an unproven IP and a sudden exclusivity. This is Assassin’s Creed, and while it doesn’t always burn up the forum inches in hardcore spaces,…