Reviewed on: Xbox Series X/S, PC
Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Publisher: Annapurna Interactive
Developer: Ivy Road
Release: March 11, 2025

Digging into the memory banks of my game-playing career, I don’t know that I have ever felt so directly called out by a video game. I am not a successful fighter like protagonist Alta, nor do I have her personally destructive focus on success at all costs. But I know exactly how she feels, both as a generally anxious person who doesn’t truly know how to relax and as a gamer who doesn’t like cozy games who suddenly found themselves inside one. Wanderstop has technical shortcomings that sometimes distract from the larger experience, but as an introspective examination on the nature of drive through the lens of a video game, it takes excellent advantage of the medium. Alta’s experience is one worth seeing through – even if you’re not interested in working at a tea shop.

Wanderstop comes from the minds behind The Stanley Parable and The Beginner’s Guide. That legacy belies some kind of twist, but Wanderstop is exactly what it has always claimed to be: a story about a warrior trying to build a new type of life. Alta was an undefeated fighter, but after unexpected failures, she gets lost in a forest on the way to train with a master and ends up at a mysterious tea shop. She’s not a prisoner there, but she feels like one as she tries to fill her time with anything to get her back on track. Joining Alta alongside this journey of self-discovery is where Wanderstop shines and I enjoyed all the writing, as it was often as humorous as it was melancholy.

The process of making tea involves growing plants and manipulating a gigantic whimsical machine that serves as the centerpiece of the teashop. Wanderstop is not a farming sim. Growing plants is a matter of foraging and solving simple pattern puzzles, and I appreciate that approach. Rather than maintaining a small garden and hoping you have what the clientele wants, every request sets you on a small mission to grow and collect. It makes the relationships with each customer feel specific and unique. I was always excited when a new person came to the shop and eager to learn what they wanted and if I could make it. And the smart trick of the game is seeing Alta slowly adopt that same sentiment as the story progresses.

I occasionally struggled with the technical process of pocketing fruit and seeds and manipulating the tea machine. Wanderstop doesn’t feel great to play, and I did hit at least one game-breaking bug (which has hopefully been addressed by the time you’re reading this), but to its credit, its focus is on the writing, and it’s easy to access and engage with that part of the game.

 

Initially, Alta is anxious and unsure what to do with herself, and I felt exactly the same way. My action gamer brain quickly completed every task placed in front of me, and when I asked the shop’s owner, Boro, what to do next, he politely said, whatever you want. It was a moment that connected me directly to Alta and made me reexamine my emotional approach to playing Wanderstop – an impressive feat for a video game about mixing fruit and tea leaves in boiling water.

Wanderstop does not emulate the same fourth-wall breaking revelations of developer Ivy Roads’ previous work, but what’s impressive about it all is that’s sort of what Alta’s adventure is about. I admire the game for being able to use video game genre conventions to tell a pensive, funny, and surprising story set in a charming location with enjoyable characters. Watching Alta grow and accept her limitations will stick with me and make me reflect on my own inability to turn off and just relax. I appreciate any art that makes you think in that way, and Wanderstop is successful in that goal.

This 2025 review reflects our thoughts on the game’s current state at publishing. As such, post-launch updates were factored into the final score.

Score: 8

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Reviewed on: PlayStation 5
Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Publisher: Capcom
Developer: Capcom
Release: February 28, 2025

Despite its popularity, Monster Hunter is notoriously hard to get into. Each new release conjures a crowd of eager but intimidated gamers asking, "Is this the one to start with?" Thanks to its refined combat, thrilling cutscenes, and endlessly engaging gameplay loop, Monster Hunter Wilds is an excellent entry point. While the tutorials are still lacking and many mechanics are far from intuitive, Wilds accommodates those interested in a simpler approach without compromising its most exciting elements.

Monster Hunter Wilds Review:

As the name implies, the game's main attraction is an environment full of monsters to track, hunt, and craft into gear. Combat shines brightly as ever, with a satisfying array of weapons available to players from the start. I gravitated towards the longsword, with its powerful slashes and spirit meter, but also fell in love with the hammer's mighty smashing abilities. Bonking a monster on the head has never felt better thanks to fantastic work from combat designers, sound designers, and animators. Wilds also introduces wounds, which appear on a monster's body after being repeatedly hit in the same spot. Hitting a wound with a focus strike staggers the monster and deals a hefty amount of damage, making it an essential and satisfying mechanic.

Story is not typically a part of the conversation around the Monster Hunter franchise, so I was pleasantly surprised by Wilds' characters and cutscenes, which kept me invested throughout the entire campaign. After the Hunter's Guild discovers Nata, a boy separated from his tribe, they embark on an expedition to find his home in the Forbidden Lands, a part of the world previously thought uninhabited. The ensuing adventure shows Nata's character growth as he reckons with humans’ effects on the environment, while making sure to pack the plot with exciting, monster-based action setpieces. It functions more as a structure to move the player around than a truly compelling narrative, but I found its guidance an enjoyable appetizer to the late-game high rank quests.

Cutscenes are especially spectacular, depicting dramatic lead-ins to hunts that made me feel like an epic hero. The game’s incredible soundtrack enhances the mood even further, combining traditional orchestra with synthesizers to represent the violent changes in the weather. Without fail, hearing Alma authorize my hunter to take on a monster got me hyped and leaning forward in my seat every time, ready to protect the people and ecosystems of the Forbidden Lands.

The encouragement is especially welcome when faced with Monster Hunter's intimidating creature designs, whether it's the rose/spider hybrid Lala Barina or the aberrant octopus The Black Flame. Longtime players grow comfortable with monsters and their attack patterns, so it's reinvigorating to head into a new entry and feel awe and excitement at the mere presentation of something new. In practice, fights are thrilling, varied, and dynamic, thanks to extreme weather effects and creative combat patterns. The initial three-chapter campaign is relatively easy, but not boring – a boon if this entry’s goal was to appeal to new players.

Monster Hunter Wilds is largely approachable for newcomers, but there are some caveats to that statement. While Wilds is more intuitive than past entries, it still has work to do compared to your average game, with mechanics buried in menus or unexplained altogether. Still, the initial difficulty level is low enough that this shouldn't pose much of a problem; you can brave Wilds' story mode while avoiding the more complicated mechanics. I picked a simple weapon and made a point to craft new equipment every few missions, ultimately only dying a handful of times. Thanks to assists from NPCs or other online players using the SOS beacon and my mount's mobility, I was healed often and could always quickly escape danger.

It's possible to engage with more advanced combos and mechanics, but new players must jump through hoops to do so. For example, there are plenty of tutorial pop-ups, but while they effectively convey how to do things, it's not always clear when it's important to do so. Cooking, for example, is a crucial and iconic part of the game, but because the portable grill is just one of many items added to your toolbelt, it's not immediately clear you should be cooking a meal whenever your previous one wears off. This struggle with tutorialization is exacerbated by Wilds' menu design, a utilitarian set of beige tabs. It's functional, but only if you know what you're looking for; there are tutorials listed here, but some are ridiculously buried. The easiest solution is to play online with experienced friends, who can teach you which food combinations are the best, which tools to bring on a hunt, and which weapons beginners should avoid. There are also endless YouTube tutorials on how to play these games, but it's a shame the Monster Hunter team has yet to fully grasp how to bring new players into the fold without relying on outside sources. 

The bright side of poor tutorialization is that it's a temporary hurdle. Once you get your bearings, Monster Hunter Wilds is a delight, bringing Monster Hunter World's carefully crafted gameplay loop to the next level. The monsters are foreboding, the weapons are sharp, and the lower difficulty level means newcomers can start without getting bogged down by the details. The Forbidden Lands are an enticing new playground for the series, and I look forward to spending dozens more hours uncovering the rest of its secrets.

This 2025 review reflects our thoughts on the game’s current state at publishing. As such, post-launch updates were factored into the final score.

Score: 8.75

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Reviewed on: Xbox Series X/S
Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios
Release: February 21, 2025
Rating: Mature

Developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio (RGG) have committed to a breakneck pace for its Like a Dragon series since it finally began to find its global audience and the results have been consistently impressive. Upon reveal, it seemed Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii might be a smaller sidequest taking place alongside the primary franchise. That is generally true (don’t expect any gigantic character or story revelations), but protagonist Goro Majima’s adventure is deeper and denser than I expected when I started. Pirate Yakuza will be familiar to those who have played previous Like a Dragon games, but thankfully it does color outside the lines in some worthwhile ways.

I am among the many who have only recently come to appreciate Like a Dragon. My primary point of contact is new protagonist Ichiban Kasuga, who starred in Yakuza: Like a Dragon and last year’s Infinite Wealth. I have met Majima, but he’s a friend of a friend. I don’t know him. In Pirate Yakuza, it turns out he doesn’t either as he wakes on the beach with amnesia. It’s a familiar and laughable trope, but it works here for the audience RGG is trying to court. To learn who Majima is alongside Majima is a treat for newcomers like me. The amnesia does hold him back from fully revealing himself, so he still felt a bit like an acquaintance by the end, but I came to appreciate why he is a fan favorite.

Pirate Yakuza retains the fun, often absurd, but quality writing of the previous games. I have not played all the Like a Dragon games, but I suspect this may be a contender for goofiest entry yet. Majima becomes a full-fledged pirate captain with his own ship before leaving the first chapter, breaks out into song to explain his pirate goals, and even manages a small zoo. But even with all of that ridiculous table setting, the narrative is able to find heart. Majima’s insistence on making the dreams come true of the young boy who saved his life when he washed ashore on the beach is a worthy throughline for the entire game.

Where the story stumbles somewhat is its place in the larger, ongoing Like a Dragon fable. By the end, Majima is more or less where he left off and the primary question answered by the game’s conclusion is one I had forgotten I even had when I finished Infinite Wealth. There are some very light teases for the future, but they are far from revelatory or surprising. Pirate Yakuza did not make me excited for the future of Like a Dragon as much as it casually confirmed that, yes, it will continue.

 

Where Pirate Yakuza sets itself apart from the other games in the series is in its fisticuff and ship combat. The former is familiar to those who have played the non-turn-based RPG entries, but Majima moves faster and has new fun tools at his disposal. I particularly liked the grappling hook that can be used to fling Majima across the battlefield to attack faraway opponents. I never dreaded a fight as Majima, which I admit did happen to me in 2023’s Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name.

Ship combat, alternatively, is wholly new to the series. I enjoyed traveling the ocean and taking on opponents to find treasure. Battling giant ships and lining up cannon shots is more tedious than fighting groups of “a**holes” on the streets of Honolulu, but it does maintain an arcade-like tone, especially when taking your hand off the wheel to fire a rocket launcher is a totally viable option.

Naval warfare takes up a lot of the sidequest space, so to speak, but there are some standout off-the-main path tasks to pursue. The surprisingly good Dragon Kart racing game returns and I went out of my way to recruit as many crewmates as possible through various missions. My favorite sidequest, however, comes from your ship cook, Masaru Fujita. When he asks for help to meet women, I highly recommend you do, especially if you’re a fan of reality dating TV.

Pirate Yakuza may not be the best entry to get players on board with the ongoing Like a Dragon narrative. I was more entranced by the loop of upgrading Majima and his ship and recruiting new crewmates than I was by the story, but it delivers on everything the series has become renowned for. An absurd tone with surprising pockets of earnest pathos, fun characters, and bombastic action are all present and accounted for here.

This 2025 review reflects our thoughts on the game’s current state at publishing. As such, post-launch updates were factored into the final score.

Score: 8.5

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Reviewed on: PC
Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Publisher: Deep Silver
Developer: Warhorse Studios
Release: February 4, 2025
Rating: Mature

I hated my first 10 hours with Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. I then realized I wasn’t meeting it on its terms; I was trying to morph what is clearly a realistic immersive sim-like digital LARP into the Skyrim-esque experience I figured it would be as yet another open world RPG. Only when I took a step back and engaged with all KCD2’s systems did I grasp what developer Warhorse Studios was trying to accomplish. For the rest of my 66 hours, I experienced near-perfection, an RPG whose mechanics, characters, and world-building are intrinsically tied together to create a modern day medieval epic. KCD2 is challenging, demanding, and often unforgiving. But, like the sharp blades I smithed in-game, through fire, it forges an exciting, surprising, and unforgettable fable. 

Picking up after the first game, players start KCD2 in control of Hans Capon, the master and best friend of the first game’s protagonist, Henry. They are holed up in a fort under siege by an enemy army and things are going terribly. After a brief tutorial showcasing the game’s swordplay, which uses real-time directional input to determine where slashes and stabs land, and the new crossbows, things continue to get worse. It’s a stirring in medias res opener, as you’re soon sent back to a few weeks before this moment to learn how Hans, a noble typically above warfare, ended up in a brutal siege. 

From this point onward, you primarily control Henry, the returning protagonist who must balance the revenge he seeks on those who killed his parents and the everyday responsibilities he has as Hans’ knightly bodyguard. In these subsequent opening hours you learn how one small bandit attack derails what should have been a simple delivery for Hans and Henry, putting them on a weeks-long journey of retribution, rebellion, and reflection. 

In my early hours, I found myself frustrated by how realistic everything in KCD2 attempted to feel, from the combat and potion making to the horseback riding. It felt slow, clunky, and exhausting. I struggled to carry all the loot I wanted. I couldn’t defeat enemy groups that outnumbered me, even if by just one. I kept getting caught by guards for stealing, resulting in me paying hefty fines (don’t worry – I struggled to get money, too), an embarrassing amount of time in the pillory, and eventually a criminal branding that permanently affected my reputation. It felt like every aspect of KCD2 was hostile. “I’m the hero, I’m the main character, why does this keep happening,” I found myself asking in anger. 

Determined to find the love for this series, I continued forward, adjusting how I approached the world. I stopped trying to loot everything, taking only what I needed. I stopped trying to fight multiple enemies at once, instead taking on singular foes to improve my stats and attain and build a better armor set over time. I stopped being a criminal, tackling objectives in lengthier, more challenging, and ultimately, more rewarding ways. It turns out that being a good citizen, a smart knight, and a logical person in 1403, was the key to unlocking my personal success in KCD2. In other words, I found enjoyment in KCD2 only after playing it the way it’s intended to be played. 

Leveling up embraces an action-focused approach that encourages you to try out the many facets and abilities of Henry, like blacksmithing, equestrianism, and more. As I continued to level up, what once felt like insurmountable barriers to my fun became progression climbs I looked forward to completing. Combat remained challenging but thrilling, too. There’s something incredibly satisfying about guiding the blade to where you want to hit, blocking incoming attacks directionally, and countering with a master strike or feint attack. It’s the closest swordplay in a game has come to feeling what I imagine it actually feels like to attack with a sword. And though I dabbled far less with ranged weapons like bows, crossbows, and medieval firearms, they were all equally engaging. 

The level of realism approached simulation while remaining just gamey enough for my liking. I remember telling my wife one night how much fun I was having. When she asked what I was doing, I responded by explaining I was moving sacks of flour from one cart to another and cleaning human excrement out of a latrine into a disposal pile nearby using a shovel – unironically exciting stuff! There’s something about Warhorse’s commitment to every system, whether it’s shoveling manure, riding a horse across a beautifully realized medieval landscape, or mixing new potions, that kept my attention in ways open world RPGs of late have failed to.

The rest of the experience – everything outside of the mechanical gameplay – matched the highs I was getting through my mouse and keyboard, too. There’s so much dialogue but it’s all well-written and performed splendidly by the voice cast, and my choices felt consequential in surprising ways. Even though I was controlling a character I didn’t make, I felt like I was crafting a personal version of Henry that made sense with my journey thus far, and KCD2 rewarded my efforts around every corner. 

That characterization, my actions as a participant in this medieval world, and how I interacted with the various others who call this land home, weaved their way excellently into the immersive sim nature of KCD2. When tackling an objective, I first thought about how my Henry would do so, and KCD2 never failed to provide me with gameplay that felt tailor-made to the plans I landed on. Coupled with my favorite score of the year so far, a whimsical and epic composition from Jav Volta and Adam Sporka, and gorgeous painterly visuals, rarely was I pulled from the immersion KCD2 provided. 

The few times the illusion was broken were due to camera issues, usually the result of the sometimes finicky first-person viewpoint, unfair enemy engagements, and the stealth, which is satisfactory but easily the weakest element of the gameplay. There was usually an exciting story moment, fisticuff fight, or environmental mystery around the corner to bring me right back in, though. 

Though its gameplay is the real highlight of this adventure, the storytelling in KCD2 is also worthy of praise. Like a grand fantasy novel spanning hundreds of pages,  Henry engages in multiple arcs filled with heists, mysteries, warfare, hijinks, romance, and more – it’s all here. Though its climax, which resolutely brings players back to the game’s opening moments, happened at a pace too rapid, an epilogue moment succinctly ties a bow onto Henry’s journey that’s both a moment of reflection and a tease of adventure to come. 

This moment also doubled as a reminder of everything I had accomplished, the good and the bad, in the shoes of Henry of Skalitz. It was an almost souvenir-like expression of the fun I had. Whether physical like a magnet, or something less tangible like a memory, I don’t want souvenirs everywhere I go, but I do want them for experiences I’ll never forget. And KCD2, for all the ways it impressed, challenged, engaged, and enraged me, is an RPG whose adventure will likely forever be etched in my mind.

This 2025 review reflects our thoughts on the game’s current state at publishing. As such, post-launch updates were factored into the final score.

Score: 9.5

About Game Informer's review system

Reviewed on: PlayStation 5
Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, PC
Publisher: Fellow Traveller
Developer: Jump Over The Age
Release: January 31, 2025
Rating: Teen

Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector uses an explosive beginning to rip the amnesiac Sleeper protagonist away from any familiarity, forcing them to endure a journey through the stars riddled with stress, unrest, and a foe constantly on their tail. But it’s those feelings, that unavoidable discomfort, that push Sleeper into new friendships, communities, and trials of trust that ultimately prove it’s not about the destination – it’s about the journey. Buoyed by the excellent returning dice gameplay, incredible sci-fi writing, and a fantastic score, Citizen Sleeper 2 is a worthy sequel, even if its UI and finale didn’t quite match the heights of the rest of the package. 

Watch Our Citizen Sleeper 2 Review:

Citizen Sleeper 2 begins with your Sleeper unaware of who they are because of a failed reboot, giving players a clean slate to work with, save for the initial decision of which class you want your Sleeper to be. I went with Operator, meaning my Sleeper had a big advantage when completing Interface actions. But the other classes – Extractor and Machinist – have equally advantageous action specialties (and disadvantages, too). 

Those disadvantages set the stage for one of the biggest additions to this sequel. You’re no longer responsible for every action in the game because you can bring crew members with you during contracts, which are like side quests but often integrated into the main narrative. They have dice advantages and disadvantages, too, so you can build a team around your anticipated actions. Both contracts and crew members, which double as well-written NPCs to build relationships with, are welcome additions to a formula I already loved. 

The failed reboot at the game’s start is the catalyst responsible for everything that follows. You set off to fix yourself and escape a yakuza-like character named Laine, who is slowly taking over your body and constantly following your every move. Because Laine is hot on your trail, you’re rarely able to grow comfortable with a location and are quickly forced to move on to the next. Unfortunately, the UI associated with the map is unwieldy, leading to frustration when selecting my next destination. Those frustrations also popped up during contracts when selecting crew dice wasn’t as seamless or smooth as the rest of the game.

Still, those annoyances melted away when I reached a new location and discovered engaging tasks to complete, NPCs to meet and help, and colonies to save. I was always excited to dive deeper into a character’s storyline, never once selecting the option to dismiss someone’s need. Lacking a tangible place to call home, it felt right to build nests of safety throughout the star system with those I’d meet, and sometimes they’d even become part of my crew, expanding my chances of success during contracts. 

I had hoped these connections and relationships would have a place in the stakes of the finale, but strangely, the climax came and went, feeling isolated from the themes present in the rest of the game. And though an epilogue-like batch of final missions provides some of the community-built comfort I hoped the finale would provide, I still felt like something was missing. Looking back on my 244 cycles as a Sleeper, though, it’s not the finale I’m thinking about but the journey to it, the people I met along the way, and the safety net of friends my Sleeper now has in the system. 

This network wasn’t built on pure success, though. Citizen Sleeper 2, like its predecessor, is an extremely stressful role-playing game where I felt constantly pushed to the edge of complete failure, only to be given a lifeline the exact moment I needed it. New but underutilized mechanics, like Glitch dice with an 80-percent chance of failure and a Push ability that allows you to reroll dice at the cost of gaining dice-damaging Stress, add to these stakes. They never felt fully integrated into the experience, however, leaving them easy to ignore. Still, every mistake was a lesson, and every success was almost a failure… until it wasn’t. Until stress became joy, discomfort became comfort, and running became home. 

As the game reminds players, “[Mistakes] can so often become the most powerful and meaningful of emblems. They can guide a being more strongly than success ever could.” The strength of the Citizen Sleeper series, especially in this sophomore release, is realizing this very message. Home isn’t where you await the next cycle to begin but where you have the freedom and space to make mistakes.

This 2025 review reflects our thoughts on the game’s current state at publishing. As such, post-launch updates were factored into the final score.

Score: 9.5

About Game Informer's review system