Games Inbox: Will GTA 6 be better than GTA 5?


Games Inbox: Will GTA 6 be better than GTA 5?
Will GTA 6 surpass its predecessor? (Rockstar Games)

The Friday letters page discusses the inherent problems with previewing video games, as one reader salutes the release of Rhythm Paradise Groove on Nintendo Switch 1.

Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Evolution or decline?
As we crawl towards the release date of GTA 6 I find myself asking what some people may think is a silly question: will it be better than GTA 5? Obviously, the graphics will be better and I’m sure there’ll be more things to do and a bigger open world and all that, but none of those things make one game better than another.

The things I like best about GTA 5 are the characters and dialogue, the design of the open world, and individual missions. And with so many people leaving and joining Rockstar in the more than a decade since GTA 5 there’s no guarantee any of those things will be as good in the new game.

I’m particularly worried about the dialogue, because both the main writers have left and that’s got to have a big effect on how the game comes out. There’s very little dialogue in the two trailers so far, so it’s very hard to tell whether it’s any good or not.

There’s also the stuff like the driving and combat, which has never been great in GTA and often has strange control systems. That could be improved or it could go the other way. Thinking about it, I’d hate to work on the game because there’s just so much that could go wrong, I wouldn’t want to be making these decisions.
Purple Ranger

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Portable market
Just saw some stats for Switch 2 sales in Japan and apparently it’s almost caught up with the PlayStation 5 already, at 5 million consoles to 7.5 million. It’ll easily pass it this year and that blows my mind considering Sony had an almost five year head start.

I don’t think the reasons are very hard to work out: the PlayStation 5 is much more expensive (the Switch 2 is cheaper in Japan than here) and it’s not portable but it’s still a really bad number. It makes me think that the PlayStation 6 portable is something that Sony wants specifically for Japan and they don’t necessarily care how well it does in the West. The rumours about it certainly make more sense to me now, seeing how bad the PlayStation 5 is doing.
Onibee

State of Sony
The Witcher 3 DLC and the Assassin’s Creed 4 remake are all well and good but that means another State of Play with little or no first party Sony games. The last one was good but that barely had any either. We do at least have a few on the docket at the moment – Saros, Marvel’s Wolverine, and Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet – but it’s still not much and definitely not enough to make it clear that Sony has done some big U-turn on their previous policy. It’s just slightly better than the last couple of years.

If the God Of War spin-off is announced in the summer that will probably be it and I just don’t know how excited I am at playing as Kratos’ wife, who we saw for five minutes tops in the last game. I’ve seen people suggest that Sony are holding most things back for the PlayStation 6 but man, what a wasted generation this was.
Cuit

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Classic sequel
Just a heads up to say the Broken Sword Smoking Mirror: Reforged Kickstarter has gone live, where you can pre-order a digital or physical collector’s edition of the remake of the second Broken Sword game.

I don’t know where they go after this game for remakes, as although the other Broken Sword games are very good, in my opinion, they are not classed as classics as Broken Sword 1 and 2 are. I’ve just backed for my physical edition and my name in the credits!
Andrew J.
PS: I noticed the date has possibly slipped for the Pragmata amiibo. Originally, I think it may have been due out on 17th April 2026, at the same time as the game, but it seems to have recently slipped to June 11th 2026. I presume the game is not delayed and it is just a manufacturing delay with the amiibo.

GC: The game’s not delayed.

Time travel movie
So just got back from watching Mario and I have to say I really enjoyed it. We watched it in 4D and I really think that added a lot to it. Watched a few movies that way, including the last Mario film, but this time felt extra good.

The seats never stopped moving and the vibration, air blasts, and water sprays really made it for me, the 3D effects were pretty good too. Maybe I wouldn’t enjoy it as much watching at home but overall a great experience. And made me want to dust off my neglected Switch 2 for some Mario Kart.
P B

Strategy wizard
As the Spectrum is getting Inbox attention, I feel compelled to mention what, to me, are two of its’ best games; Chaos: The Battle Of Wizards and Rebelstar, both by Julian Gollop. Chaos was up to eight-players on a single screen, with wizards given random spells to deploy creatures that could be real or illusory and is still a blast today. Top tip: always cast Disbelieve if a player manifests a dragon.

Rebelstar was Gollop honing the turn-based, limited action point strategy game that would later become XCOM. It’s one of the best value games ever, as it released on the budget Firebird label for £1.99, which wasn’t a great deal of money 40 years ago in 1986. Highly addictive for 1 or 2 players and very innovative.

Chock full of features, such as opportunity fire, diverse reloadable weapons, complex inventory management, healing items and melee weapons, as well as the ranged combat. Like XCOM, you also cared about your troops, and should Rita Rumpo be killed the turn after using AP on a reckless missed shot, that left them insufficient points to get back to cover, you were gutted.

What Gollop wrung out of the 48K Spectrum was mind-blowing. A tired Raider could even pick up a coffee token and get a brew from the moonbase vending machine or equip a lawnmower and mow the garden area if fed up of blasting robots.
Reg Smythe

Press ZR to pay respects
Can’t say I’m particularly interested in Rhythm Paradise Groove but I’ll salute it anyway as Nintendo’s last first party game on the original Switch. An amazing console and I think it’s definitely going to be regarded as one of the best ever the more distance we get from it.

The Switch 2 has got a lot to live up to in terms of its legacy, and I don’t think anyone would try and argue its first year has been as good as the Switch 1’s. It’s not been terrible, but it looks worse compared to what’s come before. Personally, I think it’s been a mistake not to have a proper Nintendo Direct before now.
Coolsbane

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Wrong impressions
Old Man Yells at Cloud incoming…

Reading your Samson review and it’s making me think that the preview sessions game journalists go to are just a big scam, or the write-ups that follow them are (not you, I genuinely believe you’re one of the good guys).

I read multiple previews of Samson gushing about how promising and exciting it was. How on earth can we believe any of that with how the reviews have panned out. I don’t think subjectivity can even be argued in this case, it’s being slammed across the board.

Same with Crimson Desert. Most of the previews I read failed to mention how truly atrocious the controls and writing, etc. were, and some of these people had hours of hands-on time. It’s disingenuous and sells people on an experience without the full facts.

It makes me enjoy your content even more, and I’d add GameRanx on YouTube to this too.
RJ

GC: Thanks. Previews are always difficult to judge, since you always have to bear in mind the game isn’t finished yet. We didn’t do previews for Samson or Crimson Desert, though, so we can’t comment on that. However, in our Resident Evil Requiem review, we did point out that our preview of it was based on the absolute best parts of the game – although, of course, we didn’t know that at the time. Not that the end result wasn’t still excellent, but what we played wasn’t an entirely fair representation of the final game.

Inbox also-rans
When I see a quote about GTA 6 making players millionaires I just want to roll my eyes but the worst thing is it’s probably true, if it’s anything like Roblox. I just hate to think of the kinds of games and modes they’re going to be making with it.
Hoover

I was going to ask if Samson is coming to consoles, but then I read the whole review and, you know, it’s fine. Keep it on PC.
Spatz

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The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.

You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.

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Games Inbox: What was the best ZX Spectrum game?


Games Inbox: What was the best ZX Spectrum game?
The Great Escape – they don’t make ’em like that anymore (LaunchBox)

The Tuesday letters page recommends Screamer despite the relatively high price, as one reader laments the rising cost of amiibo.

Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Full Spectrum warrior
Really enjoyed the Reader’s Feature at the weekend about Ant Attack and I agree it was a classic that needs more recognition today. It’s definitely one of the best games on the Spectrum but it had me thinking about what my actual favourite is.

I’d say Elite, Chuckie Egg, Knight Lore, and School Daze are all up there, but I think my favourite might be The Great Escape. Another great isometric game but so complicated for Sir Clive’s tiny little 48K monster.

There’s not really anything like it nowadays, which is probably true for most of the games I’ve listed. I’m still upset there isn’t a modern Elite game on consoles and stuff like Knight Lore… I guess modern action adventures are in the same area but nothing has ever been quite the same since all these old UK developers gave up the ghost.
Franky

Back to front
We wall knew something funny was going on with Resident Evil Requiem’s story and ending and I think it’s just as simple as they were running out of time to make it out for the 30th anniversary. It’s such a shame because for the first six or eight hours of the game are pretty much perfect, then it slowly bleeds out.

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It’s not enough to ruin the game or anything but when you get that close to nailing it, it feels really frustrating. I think it’s too much to hope for a director’s cut that retcons things but maybe next time Capcom should consider making the games backwards – starting with the final scenes and boss battles and working back from there.

Also, I cannot believe it’s not relatively easy to find someone in Japan that’s good at making boss battles. There must be ex-Treasure people and the like everywhere. It’s weird that’s been a problem with the series basically from the beginning.
Focus

The Legend of Elden Ring
Video game movies are not something I’d normally get excited about but it looks like Elden Ring could be the one to break the curse. I know they’ve been getting better lately but they’re still not actually good, but I hope that this could be the one, especially if Alex Garland is a fan.

The set footage isn’t much to go on but it does look exactly like the game so that’s got to be worth something, even if it is a fairly easy thing to recreate at that scale. It sounds like it and the Zelda movie might come out at more or less the same time, which is going to be interesting.

I imagine to ordinary movie reviewers they might seem very similar concepts, but I can guess which one is going to come out better – and it’s not the one by Nintendo.
Bluek

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Rising prices
I have just bought the Mario & Luma amiibo, which is my first amiibo I have bought with the new higher prices. I have attached a couple of photos so readers can compare their size with the cheaper amiibo. The Mario & Luma amiibo cost me £24.99 including delivery, the Super Mario amiibo on its own cost £12.99 and the Tom Nook one cost me £10.99.

As you can see, the packaging for the Luma amiibo is quite a bit bigger than the lower priced amiibo. I have included a Switch game in the photo so people have an idea how big the amiibo are. I bought the new amiibo as I am a big fan of Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2.

I will be more selective of what amiibo I buy in future, because of the new higher prices. I hope the amiibo for Resident Evil Requiem are not £24.99 each, as that will be £50 to own them! Nearly as much as purchasing the game!
Andrew J.

GC: The prices are shocking but we’ve got to admit, that Mario & Luma one is nice.

Amiibo boxes
Remember when amiibo used to be surprisingly cheap? (Andrew J.)
Amiibo boxes
It’s annoying that they’re actually pretty good (Andrew J.)

Too much money
That is very surprising to find that Take-Two has laid off their whole AI team. You would’ve thought they would’ve kept it going just to tick a box when attracting investors, but maybe they really don’t need the money.

If that is the case, and it’s not just that the boss has a pet hate, I wish we’d see this in other things they do. Like wasting money on weird ideas and indie games. But I can’t remember the last time Take-Two published anything that wasn’t just a sports game or something from Rockstar Games.

They might not need an AI department but you always need new and interesting games. Heck, I’d settle for a new Bioshock if nothing else.
Danson

Man attic
After making an obvious and cheap gag about the size of the PS5 Pro yesterday, I felt it only fair to show you can fit these modern consoles in quite easily under the TV and while big don’t quite deserve the reputation they seem to have.

This modest space, an attic conversion, has a PS4 Pro, PS5 Pro, Xbox Series X, plug tidy box behind the Series X, Switch 2 behind the TV, PlayStation VR 2 in a case behind some classic gaming tat and all the controllers, games and charging leads in the box. The TV stand was £50 five years ago from Argos.

I will say though both the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 look better stood up but I can’t imagine that’s the most convenient why for most to store them. So for me make the PlayStation 6 and Nextbox with horizontal as the design focus.
Simundo

TV and PS5 console set-up
It fits! (Simundo)

Luck of the draw
I don’t know if it’s on sale or if it’s that dynamic pricing but I got Astro Bot off the PlayStation Store on Saturday for £32.99.

It’s as good as everyone says it is. Been a while since I’ve enjoyed a game this much. Holds up very well against Super Mario Odyssey.
Tom Thomas

GC: We think it’s dynamic pricing (which is disgusting) as it’s £42.59 for us, at a 29% discount.

A real scream
I bought Screamer over the weekend, as I love arcade racers and I’ve been loving it. My only issue with gameplay was the twin stick turning, which I just couldn’t get the hang of. But thankfully you can map both sticks just to the left stick and it was a gamechanger, it feels much more natural. So if anyone is put off by the controls you can change them.

There’s a lot of mechanics to learn, which offers strategy to the racing, but another nice touch is in private matches or split-screen you can turn off anything that others feel complicated and just have a standard racer, which is cool.

The biggest problem is the price. £60 is a lot for a racer which is trying something new and I feel it’s putting a lot off. I managed to pay for half of it with Microsoft Points, so it only cost me £30. I think it should have been £40 and it looks like the game is suffering because of it, which is a shame as it’s up there with Split/Second: Velocity and Blur for me.
Rob

GC: We agree entirely. It’s a great game but the price is a big ask for an IP most people have never heard of.

Inbox also-rans
That Jesus: The Journey game has got to be some kind of failed superhero game they found the code for or something. Like you said, I don’t see how this stuff gets on PlayStation Store in the first place. Can I just upload some pirated ROMs and Sony will leave them up for six months until they realise what they are?
Campbell

Never heard of the dude that died but Double Dragon was always a favourite of mine when growing. So kudos to Yoshihisa Kishimoto and shame he went so relatively young.
sniperboy

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The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.

You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.

You can also leave your comments below and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.




Games Inbox: Has the new Mass Effect been cancelled?


Games Inbox: Has the new Mass Effect been cancelled?
A new Mass Effect is a long time coming (EA)

The Monday letters page discusses how to handle a Zelda: Ocarina Of Time remake, as one reader thinks Sony should copy Nintendo’s approach to making movies.

Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk

No show
I’ve seen some new rumours about the Mass Effect TV show at Amazon, which I’d completely forgotten was a thing. Apparently, they want to change the script so that it’s easier to get into for non-gamers. I can’t help thinking that’s probably a bad thing for authenticity, which is not a direction you would’ve expected after Fallout proved how important it was.

I’m not really that interested in the show though, as I can’t imagine it’d ever do the games justice, given what kind of budget it’d have to have. But it’s sad that we’re hearing more about the show than we are the new game.

I know EA said last year that it hasn’t been cancelled but I’m not sure I believe them. Is this not cancelled, like Beyond Good And Evil 2 isn’t cancelled? All I’m asking for is a sign of life and I’m not seeing anything, including any leaks about it being shown this summer. If It’s not, then I think I’ll just give up hoping for it. And then I’ll probably play through the trilogy remaster one last time…
Zeiss

Remaking expectations
Nice Reader’s Feature at the weekend, about what to do with a Zelda: Ocarina Of Time remake. I’m still not convinced it’s going to happen and if it does my guess would be it ends up as basically an upgraded version of the 3DS remaster.

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The idea of a Capcom style full-on remake sounds ideal, but I just can’t imagine Nintendo paying for that or even wanting it. It doesn’t seem their style at all. If that is what they go for though I will be very impressed, as it’s something I couldn’t imagine them doing in any other generation.

I just hope that, whatever it turns out to be, they don’t sand off all the interesting stuff. Like the reader said, the weirdness and unexpected horror moments were a bit part of the appeal and would be sorely missed if taken out.
Godgem

Peace offering
I’m not sure what to think about the rumours of a new Uncharted game. First of all, I’m shocked that Sony has been so slow to even announce one, given they did have that movie (which I assume is never getting a sequel now). I get that Naughty Dog didn’t want to make it, but do I believe that they would change their mind?

Ordinarily no, but we’re in difficult times at the moment and I can’t imagine that cancelling The Last Of Us Online was something Sony was all that happy about. They allowed Naughty Dog to do it but Naughty Dog agreeing to make a new Uncharted as a way to make amends makes sense in theory. Whether that’s what’s going on, I guess we’ll have to wait and see but they can’t let the franchise die off.
Olliephant

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Unofficial price
The PS5 Pro is nine hundred and ninety-nine pounds on Amazon.

I’m struggling to see how the PlayStation 6 launches for less money. I started gaming in the mid-70s, first with Pong and then Atari VCS. I obviously still like my games.

But after paying for the hotel, a grand is good enough spending money for a pretty tidy weekend in Amsterdam. No way I could justify that to myself for a console.

How much of this do you reckon is Sony trying to recoup some of what it lost on that live service stuff they crashed out on?
Tom Twice

GC: That’s just a third party seller, not Amazon themselves, who seem to have run out of stock. Sony sees no additional money if a console is sold above the RRP, that’s the retailer’s business.

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Blade of nostalgia
I will never understand why Microsoft got rid of the Xbox 360 dashboard and blades. They’re the only iconic thing the Xbox has ever had, in terms of interface, and they’ve got steadily worse with every change.

I realise that’s a very Microsoft thing to do, especially in terms of Windows, but I’m not surprised to see people trying to recreate it. I think they brought it back for the 25th anniversary a while back too? I don’t know to be honest, I haven’t owned an Xbox in a long time and nothing they do has made me want to reconsider that.
Kosco

Parts and labour
As a commenter correctly pointed out with my weekend feature, the law of supply and demand relates to price, which I should’ve qualified at the start. The central issue, though, is with long term investment and the lack of flexibility to adapt to changes in the economy. While small price fluctuations can occur in the short term, as an effect of demand, the price at which a console sells for largely reflects production costs, specifically the cost of labour.

You get a sense of why labour costs are decisive whenever completing games such as GTA, Resident Evil or The Legend Of Zelda and the seemingly endless roll call of credits. Or, when to cut costs, there are mass layoffs.

The price at which the PlayStation 6 does eventually sell at when launched will not be determined by what consumers are willing to pay but mainly through labour costs over the duration of the cycle, from inception through to production and everything in-between. The fallacy in the law of supply and demand is that price is determined by whether a product is desirable and what relatedly people are prepared to pay, not the labour costs which determine the commodity’s value (hence why AAA titles tend to sell at a higher price than those made by small independent studios).

This is also why, even if there’s little demand for it, having already committed considerable amounts of capital, the PlayStation 6 will likely be launched in the next year or two to pay for all that labour and ideally profit from it. Sony could of course cancel it, as they did with The Last Of Us Online. They could, of course, exit the industry altogether.
Ciara

That old joke
Picked up a PS5 Pro before the price hike. Stuck it by the sofa as it didn’t quite fit in the TV cabinet.

Looks nice, very artistic.
Simundo

Air humidifier that looks like a PS5 Pro
A true work of art (Simundo)

Hollywood synergy
I think the Super Mario Galaxy Movie was fine; my two kids certainly enjoyed. The post-credit reveal was a surprise though; I wonder if it’s hinting that the third movie will be a homage to Super Mario Land? As far as I understand we didn’t learn who exactly was trying to kidnap Rosalina in the first place so that could be a continuing plot point.

The important thing is that the movie has been another big success and that is going to encourage Nintendo to do even more, obviously, and also incorporate the changes into the games. I doubt it’ll be long till the film’s big lore drop is mentioned in a game and I expect all the characters to start looking like their movie versions sooner or later.

But because everything is so close to the games anyway that’s really not a problem, especially if it means bringing back more forgotten characters like Wart or even, if I dare say, Fox McCloud.

Star Fox was dead as a dodo before the film came out and now suddenly everyone’s talking about it and actually looking forward to the prospect of a new game this year. That’s got to be an absolute win for Nintendo and exactly the sort of benefit they would’ve been hoping from for these films.

I agree a live action Zelda is a lot harder sell, especially as they’re not using a well-known director or actors (a classic case of Nintendo penny-pinching I’d imagine) but we’ll have to see. At the moment they’re two for two in terms of hits.

It makes you wonder why Sony has been so slow to do the same thing, although they already tried that with the Ratchet & Clank movie and that’s really the only thing they’ve got that’s family friendly. Xbox hasn’t even got that.
Lucre

Inbox also-rans
Just found out that Little Mac and his coach from Punch-Out!! are in Super Mario Galaxy Movie, in the montage sequence with Yoshi in the city. Samus Aran’s ship is confirmed to be in it too, just like GC said. The film might be lightweight but the cameos are a lot of fun, if you ask me.
Wotan

The problem with Pokémon Pokopia is it may be too good. I can’t believe how addictive it is and I’m already far more interested in DLC for it than I am Winds and Waves.
Derbel

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The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.

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You can also leave your comments below and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.




Games Inbox: What is the biggest Xbox game of 2026?


Games Inbox: What is the biggest Xbox game of 2026?
Halo: Campaign Evolved – not necessarily the biggest Xbox release of the year (Xbox Game Studios)

The Friday letters page tries to guess what the Nintendo Switch 2 Lite will cost, as one reader is shocked by the behind the scenes info on The Last Of Us Online.

Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk

First party trio
I know that Xbox gets ragged on a lot everywhere nowadays, and I’m not going to pretend they don’t deserve most of it. However, it’s not all bad and, as someone that owns an Xbox Series X/S, I feel I have to try and look on the bright side.

This is easier than you might think because they have a really stacked first party line-up this year, including Forza Horizon 6, Halo: Campaign Evolved, and Fable. There might also be Gears Of War: E-Day, but I’m not clear if that’s meant for 2026 or not.

That is a much better line-up than either Sony or Nintendo at the moment, in my opinion, and while I agree it may get overtaken by the end those are not games to be ignored. I would assume Forza to be the biggest, but I think Fable has a chance to do very well too. I’m not so sure about Halo though, given we’ve already had one remake of it and there’s no multiplayer.

Crazy to think Halo has gone from Xbox’s most important franchise to a second-stringer. Nothing lasts forever, I guess.
Korey

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GC: Gears Of War: E-Day has no release year, so it could conceivably be this year.

Lite on value
With prices constantly going up it seems to be only a matter of time before the Switch 2 is even more expensive and I still haven’t got one. I have to assume this is encouraging Nintendo to fast-track the Switch 2 Lite, although who knows how quickly it will be to appear. But perhaps the biggest question now is how cheap could it be?

The normal Switch 2 is £400, or thereabouts, so surely the aim would be to get the Lite version to under £300. But even that seems a lot. That’s still only what the original Switch was at launch, so I’d appreciate at least another £50 off. Although in this case I do accept that there are outside factors.

Gaming is going too expensive in every aspect and I really think it’s about time console manufactures acknowledge this and make an effort to change things as a priority. I would look to Nintendo more than anyone to lead the way on this but so far there’s not really been anything.
Ollienaut

Come back later
I completed Life Is Strange: Reunion over the weekend and basically agree with your review. The whole thing is a rushed mess, with reused graphics, bad branching storytelling, and a terrible plot. Not only do I not think there’ll be another one after this, but I don’t want it after this; Max and Chloe deserved so much better.

Square Enix obviously knew all this would be disaster or they wouldn’t have held back the review copies, so why do it at all? Better to let the series rest for a few years, until people really start to miss it, and then do a new game, even if it ends the story, then with a team that wants it and hasn’t just been gutted by their corporate overlords.
Grackle

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The budget of Zelda
The idea of Nintendo becoming a big time film studio is so funny to me. The company with the least interest in telling a story is making the most successful movies… even if they don’t have stories either. The success of the second Mario film, which I haven’t seen, is only going to cement them further and other studios will be knocking down their door trying to get involved.

But like you said, that live action Zelda seems near impossible to get right. It could be done but I don’t have enough faith in the director or Nintendo as producer to make it work. I also can’t believe that Nintendo will pony up enough money to do the visuals justice.

An animated movie would’ve been such a better choice and a really good thing for more adult themed animation at the cinema. Or at least more adult than Mario. Zelda is the best video game franchise ever but what’s the betting it won’t be the best film ever? Or anything less than an embarrassment?
Coolsbane

Virtual worlds within worlds
Buying a game to pretend to own boxes of games you already have on digital is a hell of an elevator pitch. It’s always fascinating to me to read about these weird PC simulators, like truck sims and that powerhouse one.

I’d never want to play them but after thinking they’re a joke I always end up looking them up and it turns out they’ve sold 10 million or something. It’s easy to forget that non-gamers have very different interests and priorities to the rest of us.
Snoopy
PS: What is an elevator pitch anyway? Is that an American thing and they mean lift?

GC: We think they mean lift, yes.

Cyberdyne Systems
That guy that was working on The Last Of Us Online for seven years only for it to cancelled must have a level of patience I can’t even begin to imagine. Apart from anything, I’m surprised he stayed in the games industry and didn’t go off and work for a saner kind of company afterwards.

Never mind the amount of hours everyone must’ve spent on the game, how much money did it cost to employ hundreds of people for seven years to make absolutely nothing? And the reason they cancelled it is because they didn’t want to spend the next 10 years making more content for it? Did they not know what a live service game was before they started?!

The more you learn about the games industry the more you begin to wonder whether anyone in it has any common sense. There are some creative geniuses making the games but everyone else around it seems to be running on only half a tank.

They keep trying to replace developers and artists with AI but how about swapping out some of these producers and exec types? As useless as AI is I don’t see how it could do any worse in most cases.
Lynch

Resiopia PD
I knew fans would get creative with Pokémon Pokopia and some of those examples were really great. I particularly appreciate whoever did the Resident Evil one because they edited the video for it so well too!

My dream is to recreate the towns as they were, but I don’t know if I’ll ever really get there. I still hold out enough hope that I don’t want to read that Reddit that tells you how to do it though. The fun of the game is working things out for yourself, and I appreciate that it doesn’t hold your hand as much as you’d think.
Bosley

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Do a barrel roll
Nice article on The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. I agree that it’s definitely not a dumb Minions style movie that just wants you to ‘switch off your brain’ (ever notice that the people that say that are the least likely to ever watch something where you need to switch it on?).

It’s crazy and weird (I saw it yesterday with my kids) but it’s meant to be like that and, as you say, it’s closest thing you can get to a game without actually playing it. Is there a better movie that could be made with more character depth? Maybe but I don’t know who you’d get to write it.

As far as I’m concerned the only thing it could do with is more proper jokes in the dialogue, as it was kind of flat like that. But I enjoyed it. The only character that came anywhere close to being annoying was Yoshi and he was fine. I don’t anticipate getting to watch it 100 times when it hits streaming but the first time at least it was pretty fun.

I especially like the Star Fox bit, which I don’t see how any kid could properly understand, but Glen Powell was perfect and I now fully expect a new game to appear, because there’s no way they did all that just so people can play Lylat Wars on Nintendo Switch Online.

I do wonder what it’s going to be but perhaps something lower budget, that is just an on-rails shooter, and go back to basics like that? That’s not the normal approach Nintendo takes but then they don’t have many dead franchises like that, that they have to try a different trick with.
Gordo

Inbox also-rans
If it really is just a fiver I think I’d be a lot more interested in an Indie Game Pass than the Xbox one. I had it for a while and I barely played any of the first party games.
Renton

I’m not sure I see the point in a PlayStation 6 portable. If you’re only going to use it in the house how would it be any different from using a PlayStation Portal?
Wilks

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The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.

You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.

You can also leave your comments below and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.




Games Inbox: What score would you give the PS5 out of 10?


Games Inbox: What score would you give the PS5 out of 10?
How would you score the PS5? (Sony Interactive Entertainment)

The Thursday letters page has initial fan reactions to The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, as one reader is annoyed that Sora and Pragmata are coming out at the same time.

Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Review in progress
I’m sure we’re probably only a month or too away from Sony officially announcing the PlayStation 6 now, just like Microsoft already has for the Xbox. I’m not going to bother saying I think it’s too soon because I think that’s almost everyone’s opinion.

The PlayStation 5 still selling so well makes it seem extra unnecessary, but it did make think what the legacy of the console will be. For me the PlayStation 4 was Sony’s best console, thanks to its great games line-up, so I’d give it a solid 9/10.

But what about the PlayStation 5? For me personally it’s no more than 5/10, maybe less. There has been great games on it but Sony hasn’t had much to do with most of those and most seem like they could’ve just been PlayStation 4 games.

Am I being too harsh? Curious to know what other readers think as I realise that’s quite a drop.
Purple Ranger

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Subliminal marketing
Just seen The Super Mario Galaxy Movie and I already don’t believe a word about not building up to a Smash Bros. film. No spoilers, but let’s just say the Fox McCloud cameo is not the only one that comes out of nowhere.

The amount of time spent on Star Fox kind of surprised me though. There is no way they aren’t building up to a new game reveal. That whole bit was basically an ad for a game that hasn’t been announced yet. Although I’m perfectly happy with that.

I thought the film was good, at least in terms of pleasing kids and Nintendo fans (i.e. me). The story’s very basic but I was surprised that all the characters got a little chance to shine, even though there’s a lot more heroes than the first one. My kids loved it.
Penfold

Portable games for portable consoles
The idea of a PlayStation 6 (or more likely PlayStation 5) handheld sounds all well and good but I sincerely doubt that Sony is going to make or encourage games that are exclusive to it, which means you’ll only ever be playing the same home games on a handheld.

I know some people like this, but I’ve never really seen the appeal. I’m not that desperate that I need to still be playing on the train and even if it’s in bed or something I’d rather just set up a TV there, it’s not much effort.

Am I the only one that only likes to make games made for a portable? That’s how it was for the PSP and PS Vita after all.
Gauntlett

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Out of control
I am an avid fighting game fan and have been enjoying Street Fighter 6 and the recent release of Virtua Fighter 5 on Switch 2 (it plays fantastically well, by the way). However, when playing in handheld mode I find the Joy-Cons, especially the L and R buttons, way too easy to accidently hit and cause the wrong move to come out in a match.

Nintendo designed the L and R buttons to be longer and extend round the side of the Joy-Con. This design choice means I frequently make input mistakes. Am I the only person experiencing this? Nintendo seem to celebrate the design choice, but it removed handhled play for me with some games. Using a Pro Controller in desktop mode is a workaround but it would be good to be able to pick up and play in my hands sometimes. Have you in GC has this issue?
Bristolpete

GC: Not really but the Joy-Cons are a jack of all trades, master of none type situation. So there’s always going to be some games where they’re not very well suited.

A game of two halves
I don’t know about a backlash for Resident Evil Requiem, because I don’t think there’s any doubting it’s a good game. But I do think it’s been overrated and the way it gets worse the longer you play it is very disappointing.

What I find interesting though is a comment GC made where they said that the second half in Resident Evil games is almost always the worst. And it’s true! The problem is that most of the time that always involves some kind of underground laboratory and at that point all the gothic horror goes out the window.

Mind you, I think they were trying to avoid that in Village and I don’t think it worked. Probably because that one was just okay all the way through.
Grinch

Ring out
I don’t know what’s going on with the rights exactly, but The Lord of the Rings seems to be having its Star Wars sequel trilogy moment right now, where they’re just churning out any old rubbish because they’re desperate for content and they know they’ve already done all the obvious stuff, so they’re just throwing things at the wall in desperation.

You’ve got the awful Amazon series, the deeply uninteresting sounding Hunt for Gollum movie, and almost every video game ever made since the movies were out.

Now we’ve got rumours of the Tomb Raider people making a game, which has got to mean it’s an action game, because they’ve never done anything else (also, you would’ve thought they’d be too busy with the new Tomb Raider).

A Lord of the Rings game should be about strategy and dialogue, not trying to turn it into a Dark Souls clones or whatever it is that Crystal Dynamics are planning.

In terms of action, what everyone remembers from the films is the epic battles on a huge scale. I don’t think there was any on-on-one combat that was particularly memorable, unless you count Gandalf vs. Saurman.

The Shadow Of Mordor games were okay in themselves but they weren’t really anything like the movies and definitely nothing like the book. It’s not a question of getting the visuals or the lore right, you’ve got to let the game match up with the nature of the source material and I don’t think any Lord of the Rings game has really done that.
Focus

Extinction event
In Wednesday’s Inbox, Solabound said, ‘Also, I echo the reader’s sentiment that Sony have just removed any chance of me buying into a PlayStation 5 or 6; I’ll be very surprised if that isn’t the death knell of the traditional home console industry.’

I made very accurate predictions about the PlayStation 7 and the future of gaming that other readers in the Underbox simply scoffed at, at the time.
LeeDappa

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Bad timing
A useful summary of the most interesting game for April but I do find it interesting how which months are busy now seems to have become completely random. It used to be that November was busiest, ahead of Christmas, then Easter (because kids are off the longest) then just a bit run-off early in the year from games that missed their spot.

Now it seems a big game can come out at anytime of the year. I think that’s for the best, as everything coming out at once doesn’t help anyone and it stops video games seeming like just a kid’s toy, even if Christmas is never not going to be the busiest time.

For April I’m most interested in Pargmata and Sora, which both seem to have something in common with each other, as old school third person shooters, that seem to require quite a bit of skill to play.

I assume them both coming out at the same time is just a coincidence but it’s odd how often that happens. We haven’t seen anything like them for what seems like years and yet, just like buses, here are two of them at the same time.

It may seem like just a meaningless quirk of fate but it’s actually more important than that because I can’t afford to get both at once, so I’m going to have to wait for the reviews and make my decision then, which might not have happened if they’d come out a bit more spread apart.
Grant

Inbox also-rans
Having just seen the new Super Mario movie (which I thought was all right) I don’t believe for a minute that Nintendo isn’t building up to Smash Bros. There’s a cameo near the end that makes absolutely no sense otherwise.
Lawton

Just came back from The Super Mario Galaxy Movie and I really enjoyed it. I’m not sure it makes much sense if you’re a non-fan but the big surprise is that Star Fox is in it quite a bit and I thought that worked really well.
Xama

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The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.

You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.

You can also leave your comments below and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.




Games Inbox: How expensive will the PS6 be?


Games Inbox: How expensive will the PS6 be?
How expensive is too expensive? (Credits: Getty Images)

The Tuesday letters page argues that gaming is still great value for money, as one reader thinks Bethesda should stick to making TV shows.

Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Trust issues
Last gen I would’ve taken it for granted that Sony know what they’re doing, as a general of thumb and definitely when it comes to something like not charging too much for the PlayStation 6. But at the moment… I just don’t have the level of faith in them anymore.

Apart from anything, the PS5 Pro, and its recent price rise, shows that they’ve gone off the deep end when it comes to prices. Now, the PS5 Pro is supposed to be a high-end machine (even though I’m not sure that’s a particularly good idea) but would that stop them from trying to charge as much as they can for the PlayStation 6? I’m not so sure.

The PlayStation 6 may not be more expensive than a PS5 Pro but that’s about all I’d be willing to bet on. The whole world of console gaming has got too expensive but if there’s one company that’s going to dial that back I wouldn’t bet on it being Sony, especially since they’re doing so well at the moment and obviously feel unstoppable.
Franky

Strange decision
Like the other reader said, it’s strange to see so many detailed Nintendo leaks, but given the sources you can’t really argue against it at the moment. I’m also all for a new Star Fox game but it seems another strange priority, in a string of strange priorities for the Switch 2.

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Why is there Star Fox and Pikmin confirmed for the new Mario movie but not Metroid or F-Zero? They’re both much older sci-fi franchises for Nintendo and technically Metroid has crossed over with Mario before in Super Mario RPG! And by the time the movie would’ve been planned, they would’ve had no idea Metroid Prime 4 would be a flop, so it’s a real puzzler.

It could just be a surprise but at this point I think there’d be more people that would recognise Samus Aran rather than Fox McCloud, maybe even Pikmin too. Not for the first time I hope Nintendo know what they’re doing, because despite what some people think, they’re not always right.
Cordon
PS: Maybe the reason Nintendo hasn’t announce a new Animal Crossing is because they knew Pokémon Pokopia was covering similar ground. Although they can’t have know it’d review quite as well as it did.

Hidden talents
Just seen the latest figures for how well the Fallout TV show has done in its second season and I have wonder if I’m the only one that doesn’t get it? The show is fine, I’m not saying it’s bad, but to me it doesn’t stand out in any particular way. I’ve watched all the episodes and didn’t regret the time I spent on them but, then again, if I had never seen it I would feel I was ever missing out.

It just seems such a weird thing to be so popular. But then I suppose being middle of the road and inoffensive is probably the secret to success for most things. So… well done Bethesda, I guess?

The fact that they still haven’t managed to release so much as a remaster since the first season blew up is kind of hilarious though. They’re so slow and out of touch it’s kind of funny. I really think that Bethesda might be a lot better at making TV shows than they are games. They’re definitely a lot quicker at it.
Lamar

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Lively comments
Not complaining but genuinely interested as to the reasons why the site doesn’t have a comments section for articles.

I assume revenue is generated by advertising, so impressions, hovers, CTR?

I read this article and was tickled by how intentionally provocative it was. My guess was you published it because it was prime material to generate engagement. When I scrolled down and saw no comment section, I was at a loss. Perhaps posted because it made you all laugh?

Would you not get so much more traffic by letting readers respond and then refreshing the page, looking for replies?
Nick Jacobs

GC: All our articles have comments sections, including that one. If you can’t see them it’s probably because you’re using an adblocker or similar plug-in. Please don’t do that.

Limited preview
I saw a few different websites/journos had a preview with Saros last week. Was hoping you did too and I’ve been waiting for an article on it from you. Was that the case or are you due a preview before it’s out in a month’s time?
Lizardpudlian

GC: We’re afraid not. Sony does very little in the way of press nowadays and there were only two or three UK sites that got to see Saros. That didn’t include us, Eurogamer, or many others. It’s still one of our most anticipated games of the year though.

Helpful progress
In response to John’s query yesterday about exploration in Minishoot’ Adventures, the next dungeon should be marked on the overworld map (even if you haven’t collected the specific map fragment for that area). Fairly early on, you can rescue a character who returns to your home base and will mark all the places of interest on collected map fragments. There’s another character in your home base – again accessible reasonably early on – who sells a compass that shows on the map when a location has been fully completed.

With those, it should be a little more straightforward to pick up the game after a break and identify where you’ve been and where you’re supposed to go next.

Navigation can be confusing, but you earn an upgrade around the mid-game that makes traversing the map much easier (there’s also an item you can obtain that grants fast travel back to your base). The biggest thing I felt was missing was dungeon maps, particularly when going back to find all the collectables. But none of the dungeons is so sprawling that it becomes anything more than a minor gripe.

I hope you reach a point where the upgrades let you enjoy the game a bit more, because there’s a lot to like!
Needlemouse91

Helpful character
There is some help for John in Minishoot’ Adventures. There’s a ship/robot/guy (whatever your species is) that you can find who takes up residence in the hub village.

It’ll update your map for you and indicate places where there’s still something to nab and put ticks on caves and whatnot that you’ve rinsed clean. I’ve been using this to grab additional upgrades to make life easier for myself. I think I’m in the final dungeon now and around 60% completion, so I could probably stand to go treasure hunting for a bit before finishing.
EuclidianBoxes

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Entertainment per pound
Managed to snag a second-hand PS5 Pro disc edition for £480 just a few days before the price increase was announced. Considering I brought my PS5 Slim disc edition over a year ago for £300 I reckon if I sell it I’ll probably get more than I paid. I also managed to sell a few graphics cards a few years back. I got about 50% more than I paid when they rocketed.

All in all, it’s been a cheap decade of gaming for me compared to when I was a kid buying N64s, Saturns, and the like. I think people forget that there is always resale value in anything you buy – physical anyway – and while I’m glad I’m in a position where I can afford to splurge now and again. and I haven’t been hit by the recent increases. it’s always worth remembering that for the entertainment I get out of my gaming, compared to buying a coffee or going out for a day it’s relatively cheap per hour.

I bought Resident Evil the other day for £58, played around 36 hours and then sold for £40, that’s less than 50p an hour for that experience. Obviously, prices going up years after the generation is crazy and I’m not saying there is anything good about that, but with a little bit of savvy shopping I honestly think gaming is pretty cheap nowadays.
P B

Inbox also-rans
Just beat Resident Evil Requiem and I have to agree that the last couple of hours are definitely the worst. The final boss is terrible and makes no sense, and neither does why Grace is important – especially as it seems to contradict what happened at the beginning of the movie. Great game but it feels like Capcom were force to rush the ending for some reason.
Golem

Never mind a new 3D Mario, why have we still not got a follow-up to Sonic Frontiers? Even if you didn’t love it, I thought it was universally acknowledged as the best 3D game? I would’ve expect a quick sequel not a long wait like this.
Leestonair

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The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.

You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.

You can also leave your comments below and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.




Games Inbox: Is there really going to be a Zelda: Ocarina Of Time remake?


Games Inbox: Is there really going to be a Zelda: Ocarina Of Time remake?
How would you remake Zelda: Ocarina Of Time? (Nintendo)

The Monday letters page is appalled at the idea of another PS5 price rise, as one reader questions how a Star Fox revival could work.

Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Too good to be true
If the rumours hadn’t come from such good sources I wouldn’t believe the news of a Zelda: Ocarina Of Time remake, simply because that seems far too straightforward and obvious. It’s exactly what fans want and that’s something Nintendo almost never does.

I would be amazingly happy if it did happen, but I’ll continue to be dubious until it gets an official annoucement. My dream is that they get Capcom’s Resident Evil remake team to make it. Can you imagine how good that would be? Especially after how well Requiem works on the Switch 2.

The worst case scenario is if they get some no-name team, like the ones that did Link’s Awakening, to make it and it’s all some semi-cheap cash-in. I would not put this past Nintendo as they don’t like spending money and you would assume the main Zelda team is busy right now.

Of course, the question is why didn’t they announce this for Zelda’s 40th anniversary, especially with console sales on the slide, but I’m sure we’ll never get any sensible explanation for that. On balance, I believe the remake is real but I don’t yet believe it’s a good idea.
Onibee

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Foxed again
So it looks like Nintendo is pretty dead set on making a new Star Fox, huh? Even if you don’t believe the rumours, putting him front and centre in the new Mario movie is a very strange move if it’s not for a specific reason. I’m all for it but I am dubious as to what it will be and who’ll make it.

The problem with Star Fox is that the first two games – the good ones – are pretty simple updates of the old 2D shmup formula. Star Fox 64 had 3D movement with all-range mode, but it was very limited and I’m not sure how far you can push that and stay mainstream.

The reason the other games have failed is not so much that they were bad but that they diluted the formula so much it didn’t really mean anything anymore. What is Star Fox? Is it a 3D shmup or is it just any random game as long as you have the same characters in it?

That second approach has clearly not worked and I hope Nintendo realise that and take things back to basics.
Starch

Rich customers
I don’t even know what to think about the PlayStation 5 price rises. It says it all when I’ve forgotten whether this is the second or the third one. I do think it’s probably not the last though.

It’s pointless saying it would be madness to release the PlayStation 6 anytime soon but despite that being how everyone else sees it Sony are not going to listen. The world does not need or want an even more expensive console that does nothing except add AI slop (I agree with the Reader’s Feature that a DLSS 5 style tech is very likely).

There’s absolutely no logic to it but it’s not going to stop them because they’ve just got it into their heads that as long as some (rich) people will buy it, it doesn’t matter how many poorer people they lose along the way. Well, count me out, that’s all I can say.
Gritt

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Quick reminder
I recently downloaded Minishoot’ Adventures and whilst I initially enjoyed the game’s exploring, I soon gave up.

There seems to be little or no ability to know where you’ve been in the game. I don’t get to play games as frequently as others so it’s often a few days or a week between sessions, so I’ve completely forgotten where I’ve been and where I’ve got to go. It’s so frustrating.

Is this a shared frustration? You alluded to it in your review, but I just find it such an impediment to my enjoyment. It doesn’t help that the regions look very samey too.

Do you have any tips to help with this?
John

GC: There’s no real way round it, apart from making notes. We mentioned a feature in our re-review of Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, that reminds you of the last four things you did when you load the game up again, after stopping. That’s the sort of useful idea that is still not commonplace 22 years later and there’s no reason why.

Better late than never
I’m really glad that Silent Hill f has done so well, that now it’s getting crossovers with other horror series and manga with new endings and all the rest of it.

I admit that I thought announcing all these games was a waste of time and the series was doomed but I’m happy to be wrong. I guess sometimes just throwing enough stuff at the wall until it sticks does work.

Although hopefully they have got into a grove now and Townfall will be good as well. If it is and that’s three good games in a row (maybe four with the remake of Silent Hill 1) that will be quite the comeback.
Grackle

Balancing expectations
With all the doom and gloom around Switch 2 sales, I think people are forgetting what Nintendo forecast when it launched the machine and actual sales figures.

When they launched the machine they predicated it would sell 15 million units by March 2026 and last official sales figures suggest it has already sold 17 million units by the end end of 2025, so it’s already best it’s own estimates by 2 million with three months to spare.

Nintendo did increase the forecast to 19 million units after strong initial sales, so if you were to take that into consideration then they only need to sell 2 million between January and March 2026. And let’s not forget that it was only in February that they kept the 19 million forecast, by which time they would know if it’s tracking to hit their targets – they can’t knowingly mislead shareholders unless they are looking to get sued.

That’s not to say the Bloomberg reporter is flat out wrong – producing 6 million units a quarter means they would be looking to sell 24 million in any given year, which is crazy numbers in the current climate. And maybe Nintendo gave themselves a reality check that they are producing more than they need to, rather than suggest the Switch 2 is a sales flop.

Also, with the EU stating electronic devices need to have user replaceable battery going forward that could be another factor to slow down production of current model, to move capacity over to a revised model.

Basically, not everything needs to be doom and gloom all the time, and it’s OK to take reports with a pinch of salt if they are not backed by hard data.

Either way we find out in a few weeks when the next set of financial results are released (and maybe I’ll have custard on my face).
Anon

GC: It was Nintendo’s own president that admitted Christmas sales in the West had been ‘slightly weaker’ than expected. The question isn’t what’s happening but how serious a problem it is for Nintendo – and you’re right that, at the moment, the answer is probably not much at all.

The Elder Scrolls 6: Bohemia
For anyone hankering after a new Elder Scrolls game can I recommend Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2.

Just picked it up in the PSN sale and while it starts out pretty difficult, I’m really enjoying the first person exploration and levelling up by doing. Definitely worth a look.
Matt (he_who_runs_away – PSN ID)

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Life is strained
In addition to Shahzaib Sadiq’s concern regarding the quality of Life Is Strange: Reunion, he said, ‘but if it is another disappointment from Deck Nine, that is the final nail in the coffin.’

Sadly, I think the damage has already been done, starting with Double Exposure.

I’ve written in to the Inbox three times regarding my love for Life Is Strange, Before The Storm, and True Colors but in one of those emails, I expressed my own worries around the time Double Exposure was being revealed officially.

I said having Max as the main protagonist – something some of the fans wanted, but not me – was probably a bad idea, as I felt it was watering down and taking away the magic of what we loved of the first game, à la Ellie in The Last Of Us. And now they’ve bought back Chloe, which looks like they have either run out of ideas or simply given in to fan demand, which in turn may leave a permanent bad mark on their character.

The series now appears to be reliant on these two fan favourites, that they are now at risk of being overexposed, if you will.

I also mentioned in one of the aforementioned emails that some story characters are best confined to the one game/film they originated in, because actually sometimes, the wonder and speculation of what happened to them is better than what we actually know due to official canon.

I never played Double Exposure and just won’t ever, because I feel this game series has become a Donnie Darko/Ginger Snaps type thing where the first film was great but subsequent films told a story no one wanted to hear or cared for in the first place.

I sometimes feel we gamers don’t really know what we want…
LeeDappa

Inbox also-rans
Excellent interview with Jesper Kyd, GC. He’s always been my favourite video game musician and I had no idea he, or half the companies he talked about, go back so far.
Purple Ranger

GC: Thank you.

A £90 price increase for all PlayStation 5 console is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. I can’t believe that me buying one at launch turned out to be the cheapest option. And yet I still feel like I was conned somehow.
Grendel

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The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.

You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.

You can also leave your comments below and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.




Games Inbox: Will there be a Super Smash Bros. movie?


Games Inbox: Will there be a Super Smash Bros. movie?
Coming to a cinema near you soon? (Nintendo)

The Friday letters page enjoys the madness of the Tomodachi Life: Living The Dream demo, as one reader doesn’t have the time for Crimson Desert.

Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Assembling the team
Seeing Fox McCloud in the new Mario movie was a genuine shock to me. I know the Pikmin were already in it, but I thought that was just Miyamoto giving his favourite franchise a cameo (they’re also at the Super Nintendo World in L.A.). But Star Fox? That makes a cameo by Samus Aran now very possible, if not probable.

I get that the space setting is being used as an excuse to get them together, but I’ll bet quite a bit of money that the next Mario movie finds an excuse to include Zelda and other fantasy characters like Fire Emblem.

To me, a Super Smash Bros. movie is now inevitable. We are witnessing the build-up to the original Avengers all over again, but this time with Nintendo characters! Now all we need is some new games to go along with them and I would be very happy with a new Star Fox and Smash.
Badgerman

Delaying the inevitable
I really don’t know why publishers bother holding back review copies when they know the games are going to get reviewed anyway and reviewers are then probably going to go into them assuming there’s a problem from the start.

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Gamers too, because even if Life Is Strange: Reunion’s good (or more likely okay) the name has already been through the dirt. Starfield never recovered from its initial bad press, for the very good reason that it’s not a very good game. Even if it had someone got good reviews, nothing would’ve changed that.
Lumpy

Slow-mo train crash
$300 million to make a new video game? That’s more than most movies! And people wonder why the games industry is in trouble. In 40 years we’ve gone from one person making a game in his bedroom as a hobby to bloated ‘epics’ that are so expensive they have to sell tens of millions of copies to turn a profit. Oh, and they take so long to make you can only have one every five years (at best).

I think it’s clear at this point that no publisher is making any attempt to fix this problem and at some point the house of cards is going to collapse in on itself and who knows what will be left after that. It’ll be awful but we all see it coming and as upset as I’ll be I definitely won’t be surprised.
Focus

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Forbidden love
RE: Alex the cousin lover. Is it just me who finds that the Japanese obsession with adopted siblings, (i.e. stepbrother/stepsisters entering relationships) is a whole lot weirder than the second cousin thing?

You may only see your second cousin/extended family once maybe twice a year, at family dos or gatherings, it’s exciting, a thrill ride, something different to the everyday… your stepsis/bro well, they are your sisters and brothers, you see them every day, you love, you hate, you grow together… but ultimately, they’re ya sister or brother!

There’s something to get all keyboard warrior-y about… also, who’s Alex?!
big boy bent
PS: Loving Pokémon Pokopia. However, I’m a little stuck on Bleak Beach. Prof. Tangly says bring more light; I’ve connected all the street lamps, they’re on, but the story isn’t moving on? Any hints, anyone? Maybe I’ll ask my second cousin!

GC: Have you connected the power cables up to Peakychu’s machine? He’s the key to the end of that quest.

Second thoughts
About a week or so ago, I wrote into the Inbox with a photo of my Switch in the bin, after going through my backlog.

Just to let everyone know it has been taken out of the bin since playing the Tomodachi Life: Living The Dream demo and the whole game has now been pre-ordered from MyNintendo.

Looks like there’s still life left in the ol’ hybrid yet…
LeeDappa

GC: We hope you didn’t make it say anything rude.

Max closure
It’s rather disappointing to see the fact that there won’t be a review of Life Is Strange: Reunion from GC this week. It’s released today and there’s no reviews to be seen anywhere. Which is a personal shame for me, because I’ve actually downloaded all the titles to my Ally X and I’m currently playing through the first title. Essentially the introduction of Max and Chloe, and the beginning of the franchise as a whole.

Maybe it was the negative critical reception to Double Exposure that has scared Square Enix from receiving the same outrage or outcry of disappointment, that they’re being silent over this title’s reception. I don’t really know the facts and I certainly can’t tell the whole story, but if it is another disappointment from Deck Nine that is the final nail in the coffin.

As far as the narrative of Reunion is concerned, I’m hoping it ties into the events of the first game. Especially the events carried out by Mark Jefferson. He was such an important character and I’m really hoping for closure. Maybe he’s dead in his prison cell or even sentenced to life behind bars. We need to know his fate for definite.

Because if Reunion is the end of the franchise, or at least the end of Max and Chloe’s story, it involved Mr Jefferson at the end of the day; even Nathan Prescott played a huge role. It was those events that led to Max and Chloe breaking up, after all. So I’d surely tie the events of the first game into the story of Reunion. Because I’d just like to have that needed closure and hopefully a happy ending for Max and Chloe.

If GC is able to have a review out for the game, could you guys please let me know if Mark Jefferson or Nathan are at least mentioned and there’s some ties to the first game? Or if it has moved on completely and the story is just bland and uninteresting? Maybe not a satisfying conclusion. I look forward to the review.
Shahzaib Sadiq

Always one
Totally agree with everything the reader said yesterday about the flaws of Metacritic. They really should just do a top critic version because it’s almost useless otherwise. Just take a look at it now and there’s one single review for Life Is Strange: Reunion and, you guessed it, it’s from a no-name site and very positive.

Considering what GC told us about the review copies I think we all know just how reliable that score is. And yet it’s going to be included in the final meta score, which really doesn’t seem fair, whether the game turns out to be good or not.
Gorf

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Out of time
It’s a shame that Crimson Desert was underwhelming overall, as I can see that it has its fans with some streamers and others not quite so much. It’s hard to see the pull for me and committing the time for the game is not possible, if I believe my confidence is just a little below par for dedicated gaming sessions.

The problem I have is the many hours I’ve had in Dragon’s Dogma, Death Stranding, Dragon Age, and many others with exploration involved. I also will include Assassin’s Creed games, as Valhalla nearly wiped out the passion I had for the series, after enjoying Creed games for many years.

Before I found out the company behind Crimson Desert, I thought it was done by the Assassin’s Creed developers, as I thought I saw so many of its gaming mechanics being used in the game. When I found out I was pretty surprised for sure.

Another game it reminds me of is Zelda: Breath Of The Wild, for again the climbing and of course the cooking. And like Breath Of The Wild, a story not being the most engaging part and the sub-activities being the ones of interest, strengthening your character. I think Crimson is definitely borrowing a few ideas from these other franchises that have been popular.

Like another questionable product by Nvidia and their DLSS 5 technology! What I can’t understand is how DLSS 5 devs can say lighting changes the textures and look of a gaming character! It appears makeup has been applied or a more stylish five o’ clock shadow and skin textures which unfortunately reminds me of AI creations and not a creation from a skilled development team.

Anyways, definitely a lot of heated discussions recently in the gaming industry and I will be keeping my eyes and ears open for further developments into the above topics.
Alucard

Inbox also-rans
Have you heard about the new FromSoftware sequel featuring its first Colombian protagonist and brutally hard timing? Shakira: Shadows Dance Twice.
Bll

It’s a good job I like Bluey, because if it wasn’t for that the Xbox Partner Preview would’ve been a total wash. It was nearly as bad as the recent Nintendo Directs.
Cone Dash

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The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.

You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.

You can also leave your comments below and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.




Games Inbox: Is Crimson Desert being underrated?


Games Inbox: Is Crimson Desert being underrated?
Crimson Desert – some people like it (Pearl Abyss)

The Tuesday letters page is surprised to find how big Crimson Desert developer Pearl Abyss is, as one reader is doubtful as to whether Screamer will be a hit.

Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk

May contain annoyances
So I bought Crimson Desert on Saturday, after reading several reviews and watching some YouTube videos of the game with the intention of getting a refund if I didn’t get on with it. The funny thing is it wasn’t even on my radar really until everything blew up, but it really got me curious as to how some reviews were really high on it and some very average.

Long story short, I didn’t refund it and I’m several hours in now and I’m hooked. It’s just such a fascinating game to play, I’m finding the flaws almost endearing and even though the controls certainly are a choice you do get used to them. It’s not what I thought it would be at all either, it’s closer to a sandbox fantasy simulation with so many interconnected systems and depth.

It feels like every suggestion for a minigame or feature was evaluated by asking the question, ‘Will this be fun for someone?’ and if the answer was yes it went in and that feels quite refreshing, especially since it seems like you can ignore those quite happily if you don’t want to bother with them.

I will say, however, that this is almost certainly the most Marmite game I’ve ever played. It will either draw you in or you’ll bounce off it, I think. So I can totally see why there isn’t as much of a consensus on this as something like The Witcher 3.

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It reminds me in some ways of Destiny, when that first came out. There was something so compelling about that game, that just hit the spot for those of us who really got into it and this feels exactly the same to me. So, I don’t think the people who are saying it’s good and enjoying it are kidding themselves.

Hopefully over time the annoyances and the issues will be ironed out, as the dev team do seem to be responding quickly to the community. But even if those issues remain, I’m still enjoying my time with the game, warts and all.
Carl

Money to burn
I love how all this stuff coming out about the developers of Crimson Desert just spamming the game with random features and parts of other games, is exactly how the reviews described it and imagined it must’ve been made. What I wonder is how the game ever got founded, because I definitely would not be giving a bunch of people who have only ever made one MMO before the cash to make a… whatever Crimson Desert is supposed to be.

It’s funny how often the biggest disasters in gaming can be seen from a mile away but I guess as long as the right people are making money from it all the madness is left to continue.
Sagat

GC: Pearl Abyss is actually a really big company, with over a thousand employees; they also own EVE Online maker CCP. Black Desert Online is very popular in Asia.

Resist temptation
The fact that Rockstar Games is paying some people less than minimum wage is beyond disgusting. I don’t care if they’re the cleaners, this is the company that makes the biggest entertainment product in human history and they have to have their knuckles rapped by the government in order for its employees to earn a living wage.

I’m extra shocked that this is happening in the UK, although I guess the US government would never have cared and we wouldn’t have found out. But c’mon Rockstar, try and do better. It’s not that hard not to be evil.
Bootles

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Exception to the rule
I appreciate the review of Screamer, which I had never heard of until now (including the old 90s game). It sounds great: inventive and unique, which is why I’m sure it won’t sell at all and then everyone will complain why are there no arcade racers? Or whatever your favourite rare genre happens to be.

People have to vote with their wallets to get anything noticed and yet we constantly see great games do badly and then there’s no follow-up, from either that developer or another. I’m still shocked that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was a hit because it seemed to have everything going against.

Sure it was good, but if that was all you needed for something to be a hit the world would be a very different place.
Hordak

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Still in the game
I have to hand it to Microsoft, they are trying to carry on as if everything is normal. That Partner Showcase thing sounds like it’ll be a bit of a dud but they’re doing it anyway, as if everything was normal and the Xbox was still a viable format.

I’m very interested to see what they’re going to be like when they unveil the next gen console. Probably very arrogant and trying to pretend they’re king of the world, but I can’t pretend I’m not interested in seeing what they put out. It’s obvious they haven’t given up yet.
Holstis

Remasters and remakes
I have to admit I am very impressed with what I have seen with Resident Evil Requiem. Although I did not buy this game I did watch a 100% walkthrough and I can assure everyone this game absolutely delivers. From an honest perspective I am an original Resident Evil 2 fan and that was the game that got me into Resident Evil, alongside Resident Evil 1.

Also, with new DLC coming for Requiem we have been spoiled savage by Capcom and hope that we will see them consider continuing with new DLC in the foreseeable future, as the game has already sold 6 million copies. I’d love to see them do DLC adding more characters with unique campaigns, such as past Resident Evil characters making a return, like Alyssa has.

Also, I think now that in 2026 it is time Capcom considered making future Resident Evil games more open world, with PlayStation 6 and Next Gen Xbox coming.

Finally, there is one point I’d like to bring to everyone’s attention. Someone has done an AI 4K HDR10 overhaul of the original Resident Evil game with up-to-date graphic enhancements and it looks and plays glorious, here’s the video.

If this can be done with an AI overhaul surely Capcom could do this with Resident Evil’s Directors Cut, Resident Evil 2, and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis in a remastered HD Collector’s Edition that would be sweet and nice for fans.
gaz be rotten (gamertag)

Loveable Evil
Kudos to the people that organised that Resident Evil fan film. I can’t believe the amount of effort it must have taken to organise, on top of all the normal problems of making a film. I’d love to know how much convincing the actors took. They apparently couldn’t get Jill Valentine but I’m amazed any of the others wanted to remind people of their roles, so kudos to them.

Despite all the gore and horror, Resi really is such a loveable series. It’s so dumb and honest and fun. I agree that it should never be taken seriously because that completely robs it of half its appeal. The skill from Capcom is in riding that line between cheesiness and real scares.
Necktie

Never again
Crimson Desert is indeed many things: ambitious, overstuffed, bloated, disappointing, and a generic single-player title that I pre-ordered and in less than 24 hours traded in immediately to CeX. Because it is, from what I’ve played and the many reviews, a very barebones title. Personally, I am very glad to be rid of it and just from seeing the awfully bland graphics, the awful controls, the lack of a narrative to grip you. It is indeed one of the most disappointing games of 2026.

It’s no surprise that Pearl Abyss’s stock has fallen, but my mistake is one to be learnt from. I ignored the countless red flags, the shady tactics by Pearl Abyss to implement a review embargo so very late and the lack of any explanation, as far as any hints to the narrative beats and overall themes of the world. It was only false window dressing, disguised as the next great open world feature.

Patches can only do so much to fix or even try to fix what is essentially a title that will be forgotten very soon, especially when we are less than a month away from the release of Saros and Pragmata. They seem infinitely more interesting, but I cannot stress this enough, I’ll be waiting for reviews for both releases.

I’m more confident about Saros, since it’s a continuation of the systems introduced in Returnal, but if my mistake has taught me anything. It’s that always trust your instincts. I only wish I hadn’t even gazed at Crimson Desert or given it a glance at all. That’s truly a regret I have to come to terms with.

As far as the reviews go, it sits at a 78 on Metacritic. In my opinion, it’s far too high of a score for such a wasteful opportunity. It deserves far much less. Even GC scoring it a 6 is far too kind. It’s more or less a 4 or a 3 out of 10. For utilising a beautiful world but lacking in many important factors.

May there never be a sequel to this debacle. On a final note, it would be absolutely phenomenal if GTA 6 was to release on the Nintendo Switch 2. But it is even possible? We’ll have to see and wait.
Shahzaib Sadiq

Inbox also-rans
Sympathies in advance to whatever penniless students end up having to walk around the Minecraft theme park wearing a bunch of cardboard boxes to look like the characters. I feel grateful my boy has never shown any interest in the game.
Scourge

Agree on adding more character moments to Resident Evil. The next game definitely has to have Leon and Ada putting on a dinner party for Chris and Jill and the rest. And then zombies attacking, obviously. (Or maybe Hunters? They were always my favourite and it feels like we haven’t seen them for years.)
Grossman

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The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.

You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.

You can also leave your comments below and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.




Games Inbox: Is Marathon worth playing?


Games Inbox: Is Marathon worth playing?
Marathon has some unusual ideas (Sony Interactive Entertainment)

The Monday letters page is keen to find out what happens after Resident Evil Requiem, as one reader has no sympathy for Crimson Desert players.

Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Marathon effort
The thing that gets me about this weekend-only Marathon business is how Bungie have less than zero respect for people’s time. We’ve all been saying that about games for a while now but level-grinding to unlock something you can only play for eight days a month is crazy too me.

Never mind what you’re supposed to do if you happen to work over the weekend (I often have to come in on a Saturday) but I guess that just makes the ones that do get to play it even cooler, right?

As if the ugly graphics weren’t putting enough people off, this actually kills any though I had of ever giving it a try. I don’t know whether the game is going to be successful or not – it seems to be doing okay but not great – but when I play a video game it’s not so it can become a second job for me.
Zeiss

Marketing spend
Is it only me that gets constant adverts for World Of Warcraft’s new expansion, every time I go on YouTube? I have no interest in the game, I’ve never played it or visited a website about it, and I’ve certainly never watched a video on it, but I get spammed with ads for it constantly.

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The weird thing is I get very few other ads about games, despite that being one of my favourite things. Fortnite is about the only other thing I get a lot, which probably says a lot about how much these companies are spending on advertising compared to everyone else.

I’m a big Resi fan and have been watching a ton of videos about it lately, but I never saw a single ad for Resident Evil Requiem. That doesn’t seem to have affected its sales but I wonder what would’ve happened if it had been shown everywhere?
Logan

Risk and no reward
I’ll be honest, I don’t think I’ve got any sympathy for anyone that pre-ordered Crimson Desert and is now regretting (or, more likely, pretending to anyone that will listen that it’s good, actually). A too-good-to-be-true game from a developer with no experience in the genre, or anything much except one MMO, should send those alarm bells ringing straight away.

If you’ve got £55 just lying around, that you can afford to gamble on a game being good, based on virtually nothing, then I don’t think you can really complain about anything. I’ll wait until the game is cheap… and then spend the money on something else, because it sounds awful.
Spency

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Single option
I don’t think the PlayStation 5 still beating the Switch 2 in sales is too much of a surprise. Nobody is going to buy an Xbox Series X/S at the moment so if you want triple-A games then the PlayStation 5 is the only option.

The Switch 2 is a great console but it’s not going to be the first choice for anyone but families and hardcore Nintendo fans. That is still a lot of people, but I think there’s always going to be more wanting to play the best-looking versions of the latest games.

Resident Evil Requiem on the Switch 2 looks good but it’s still not as great as the PlayStation 5 version. But it’s not just graphics. Nintendo’s online services are still very limited compared to Sony and Microsoft. Who wants to play EA Sports FC on Switch 2? And you still can’t play Call Of Duty, despite all Xbox’s talk.

If you’re into games even just a bit you can’t make do with just a Switch 2, so your only options are a PlayStation 5 or a PC.
Kimble

Pokémon Endgame
Loved the Reader’s Feature about Pokémon Pokopia. I’m what I guess you’d call a lapsed fan and haven’t really been into the series properly since the DS days. I took a chance on Pokopia, after all the good reviews, and I’ve been loving it.

I almost got teary eyed at the end, especially when I realised there was tons of stuff I could still do, and that’s before getting into the Minecraft stuff or Animal Crossing style home improvement. Really excellent game and all the better because it was a surprise. More of this please, Nintendo!
Colin

Future fashion
Nice Reader’s Feature about what the next mainline Resident Evil should be, although I doubt even Capcom knows yet, as the success of Requiem probably caught them a bit off guard. If the rumours are right, we’ve got remakes of Code: Veronica and Resident Evil 1 coming first, so it’s obviously a long way off.

I’m more than up for those but Resident Evil 1 again seems like the perfect time for another soft reboot, with Resident Evil 10 following after that. As to what it will be I think there’s two main problems: do you change the characters and do you change the gameplay?

Considering how popular Grace seems to be I think there’s no doubt that Capcom can still make fun new characters, without having to rely on the old ones. In terms of gameplay though, Requiem was pretty traditional really and people loved that. Probably a lot more than if it had been open world or co-op or whatever.

So as much as we can predict anything at the moment, I think you’ve just got to look at what’s successful now, before they start making the new game. If people had hated Requiem and were demanding something new then that’s probably what Capcom would’ve done, but that’s not how it is right now.

Games taking longer to make is bad in so many ways but one that I think not a lot of people mention is that you start making them based on current trends and then by the time it’s finished who knows what will be popular. That probably explains a lot of live service games.
Cubby

How they do it
Just wanted to say that I really appreciate the behind the scenes videos in Resident Evil Requiem. I guess I already knew that’s how they did the tech but it’s really nice to see a fairly long segment broken down like that.

Although I wonder how long until time-consuming and expensive things like that are just faked with AI, because it’s ‘good enough’. Crazy to think that 30 years ago the same franchise had tank controls and characters that looked like something out of Minecraft. Happy birthday Resi!
Winston

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Front loaded
That’s me finished Resident Evil Requiem on all three difficulties. It’s safe to say it is superb, with amazing graphics, fun gameplay, and a pitch perfect tone.

I still can’t help feeling it could have been even better though. To my surprise, as a big fan of Resident Evil 4, my favourite sections of the game were Grace’s. They’re really tense and atmospheric, with the Rhodes Hill Care Centre making for a wonderful setting. Having zombies with personalities works brilliantly and I wish they had doubled down on the idea with even more variety.

The second half of the game has more generic and returning enemies from the series, which seem a bit uninspired compared to those in the first half. There is too much fan service in general towards the end, especially with the bosses, and I would have preferred to see more original ground broken. I’m not convinced we even needed to return to Raccoon City at all, I’d have preferred to stick around Rhodes Hill with perhaps more institutions/buildings nearby to explore.

It’ll be really interesting to see what direction they take for the next game. I know they experimented with open world for this one and I think that might be the way to go to reinvent the series again. Can’t wait to see!
Ryan O’D
PS: My favourites are:

  1. Resident Evil 4 remake
  2. Resident Evil 2 remake
  3. Resident Evil 1 remake
  4. Resident Evil Requiem
  5. Resident Evil 7

GC: We think it’s fair to say most, if not all, Resident Evil games are better in the first half than the second.

Inbox also-rans
This business about the EU Switch 2 model made me realise how happy I am that region locking is a thing of the past. What a dumb idea that was.
Focus

Crimson Desert might be a bad game but I tell you one thing, it’s made me really keen on playing a new The Witcher, just from looking at the videos. Hopefully the rumours of new DLC this year are true.
Kryzer

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The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.

You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.

You can also leave your comments below and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.