Kirk McKeand's Reviews
Demon’s Souls is the best PS5 game you can play at launch, and I’m sure it will go down in history as one of the best launch titles of all time. The Old One has awoken and I hope this review feeds it more souls. It deserves a full belly.
I’m V and the game is Silverhand - I can’t get Cyberpunk 2077 out of my head. I’ve had it a week and played 70 hours, which is probably about as healthy as scooping out my face and replacing it with electronics, but it didn’t feel like work. Like a digital personality loaded onto a biochip, it felt like stepping into another life for a while. It’s a life I can’t wait to relive.
Deathloop is one of the most interesting triple-A games in recent memory and you owe it to yourself to play it.
For my money, Resident Evil 2 Remake is right up there with Resident Evil 4 as the best game in the series. It’s the perfect blend of nostalgia and the new, marrying a classic game with contemporary game design, and a prime candidate for those Game of the Year lists. In January! Capcom clearly has no chill.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is a brave prequel that isn’t afraid of taking risks. It is innovative, surprising, stunning, dramatic, and generous – a highlight of this generation and a benchmark for other open world games to aspire to.
Dragon Quest Builders 2 is a masterpiece. No joke. If automation was to take my job right now, at least I’d have something to lose myself in during these long summer months.
It turns out Valve just needed new tech. It just needed VR. And it’s what I needed, too.
When the credits rolled on The Last of Us Part 2 I was still buzzing from the excitement of the final few hours.
If you've been waiting for Fallout 4, it will simultaneously meet your expectations and exceed them in others. Who would have thought a Fallout game would convince us of Bethesda's storytelling and shooter credentials? In a year full of brilliant open-world games like The Witcher 3, it manages to stand apart from the crowd and deliver something that feels fresh, despite its familiar foundations.
A truly remarkable strategy game
Perhaps MGSV's best quality is how in pulling gameplay to the foreground and letting much of the exposition remain optional, it opens it up to be enjoyed by people who have in the past been put off by its weirdness, serving as both the perfect entry point and a satisfying conclusion. MGSV takes the best of a great series and creates a series' best in the process.
Ratchet & Clank stands on its own merits, never relying on fond memories of the 2002 PlayStation 2 original beyond knowing gags. You might be tired of being asked to buy the same game twice, or perhaps you've been burned before by a low-quality movie tie-in, but don't let that put you off, as this is one of the best console exclusives this generation.
If you went into Horizon Zero Dawn without knowing a thing about it, you would never guess that this open-world RPG comes from Guerrilla Games - the studio behind weighty first-person-shooter series, Killzone.
Last night I went to bed after starting my second playthrough of Dishonored 2, and I dreamed of Karnaca. Like the Outsider plucking those who interest him from their earthly existence, Dishonored 2 has invaded my unconscious mind, to the point where I can barely think about much else. I'm already planning my third run.
It Takes Two is, without a doubt, the best co-op game you can play right now. It’s much more ambitious and bigger budget than A Way Out, which was still brilliant in its own way. Josef Fares and the team at Hazelight take things to the next level here, and I can only imagine what they’ll do when they’re inevitably given a triple-A budget. Grab a friend by the hand and pull them through an adventure unlike any other as soon as you can - you won’t regret it.
Overwatch is a first-person shooter that oozes personality and charm, but beyond that surface layer lies a deep, tactical game where your most powerful weapon is your brain. If, like me, you've recently fallen out of love with online first-person shooters, play Overwatch long enough for it to deliver one of its many standout moments and you'll be renewing your vows in no time.
Titanfall 2 boasts the best FPS campaign since Modern Warfare, and it comes bundled with an exciting, hyper-fast multiplayer that will keep you entertained for months. This is proof that Respawn is still the best shooter developer in the business. Like a Pilot zipping along a vertical surface, I can only hope the developer maintains its impressive momentum.
Despite some small niggles – such as stealth being so rudimentary it feels redundant, and the aforementioned uninspired late-game location – this is the best horror game since Creative Assembly's wonderful Alien Isolation. It's best if players slowly creak open the game's doors themselves, discovering the story and set-pieces on their own, as this is an experience that works best when it's free to surprise you, like a rotting doberman crashing through a window.
Despite the shallowness of the combat, you’re always being pulled towards something new, and you can’t help but be carried along by it. Whenever you tire of one thing, the next distraction or big set-piece is just a few minutes away – just be prepared to be offered pocket tissues, have a few scraps, and become someone’s agony aunt.
Dishonored: Death of the Outsider captures everything that's great about Arkane's assassination series, while also showing that it can still surprise.