F1 25 is the 23rd instalment in the official F1-branded games published by EA Sports.

For those familiar with the franchise, F1 25 takes all the elements that have made previous versions popular – and heightens them to an even greater level of realism, immersion, and thrilling gameplay. However, for those who are not into racing games, this does little to reach across the aisle of the gaming community.

2025 feels like the year in which Formula 1 racing is evolving beyond its dedicated base and even further into the mainstream population – especially with the release of the F1 film alongside this game.

To begin with, the game is visually stunning. The cars look and feel sleek to drive – and it brilliantly re-creates world-famous courses with realistic environmental changes depending on the time of day and weather.

From the moment you are thrust into your first race, you can feel the vibrations of the car, the adrenaline of speeding around the track, and the minute details around the courses. It has reached a level of immersion that feels difficult to top. The realistic physics also create an intoxicating experience that makes the player want to master the course to achieve the best times and secure first place.

The level of customisation is expansive, and with several difficulty settings and assists to choose from, the experience will vary significantly from player to player. It can be rather simple – where much of the braking is done for you – or there can be an entirely hands-off approach.

The My Team mode has seen some much-needed changes from previous instalments. In it, you jump in as the owner of a new team and grow it from the ground up to glory.

Developers Codemasters have dubbed this My Team 2.0 due to changes in the management and driver system. Previously, the owner character also took the driver’s seat. This time, you get the option to drive as either of the two drivers you’ve hired.

Research and development have also been tweaked – meaning you now make changes to each car individually to develop every aspect of your team’s strategy and performance.

The game expands on these new features and intertwines them with the return of the story mode, naturally named Braking Point 3. It continues the story-based mode introduced in F1 23, in which you take charge of the fictional Konnersport team – its owners, managers, and racers – to compete against the teams we’re all too familiar with.

It also includes additional features outside of racing, which elevate the realism and provide a unique look into the world of Formula 1. These include making managerial decisions about sponsorships, team activities, and media events. All of this can impact team morale as well as your public perception.

The well-acted cutscenes also provide some much-needed breathing room between each race.

If racing games or Formula 1 are your thing – brilliant. This will offer everything you’re hoping for and more. If they’re not, I can’t see this changing your mind. While it includes much-needed revamps to features from previous instalments, it doesn’t offer much for those who don’t get a kick out of sports-style games.

As with all sports games, there’s only so much deviation possible from their core rules – and this game has masterfully added as much imagination, customisation, and immersion as possible within those bounds.

Would I pick this up at its current $120 NZD price? Personally, no. But I have zero doubt this will strike a major chord with the fandoms it serves. For the rest, it may be best to pick it up when it’s on sale.

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The timeless tale of Pinocchio and his creator Geppetto took a twisty and dark road with the release of Lies of P in 2023.

A third person action adventure game with RPG mechanics and an unforgiving combat difficulty.

Beautifully designed you are P, a puppet with unique abilities. You are special. You’re the only puppet with human-like intelligence. The only puppet who is able to tell a lie.

Set in a 19th century cyberpunk-like world in a city known as Krat, where puppets that once served man went postal.

Now the developers have just released one epic DLC, that could have been a singular game release entirely, Lies of P: Overture.

P is warped back to the beginning. Overture is a prequel to the main game, before the puppets went on a murderous massacre.

Guided by a mysterious Stalker, P will uncover the reason why the cyber puppets went rogue.

This is a whole different Krat than we have seen before, as the adeventure takes you beyond the city and only you know of what the near future is about to hold.

Lies of P: Overture plays similarly to the original game, with RPG elements and that brutal unforgiving combat.

This new DLC is only accessible via completing the full game, up to Chapter 9. You of course need the original game and the patience and tolerance to forge through.

Expect to die. A lot. Lies of P is not a ‘run and gun’, combat needs to have a more strategic method in order to survive.

Lies of P is coming on to two years since release but is still one of the most beautifully styled games available. The Overture DLC simply adds to this, while maintaining the original playstyle and expanding upon the darkest Pinocchio story ever told.

The post Lies of P: Overture (Xbox Series X|S) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Xbox has just revealed a partnership with AMD for their processing power for the already in the works next-gen Xbox consoles (and handheld!).

What is also revealed is that players may have more than one eStore option for their games (we are hoping Steam is included), which will enable gamers to load and play game libraries from other vendors.

If this is the case, this is a hugely exciting future, making Xbox the one stop gaming platform. This also essentially siloes the likes of PlayStation (excluding their PC ports) and Nintendo.

Announcement reel is below.

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Lost in Random is a surprise indie adventure and strategy game released by EA Games in 2021.

A dark narrative where children are giving a number when they turn a certain age. The ‘lucky’ ones are chosen to live in the Queen’s tower. But this is simply by chance, by a roll of the dice.

Now developers Thunrderfull and Stormteller Games has released the second chapter; Lost in Random: The Eternal Die.

But things have changed since the first game.

You take on the role of the now dethroned Queen Aleksandra, who once reigned and controlled the citizens of Random. She is joined by her companion Fortune, a dice.

This new adventure, styled in the same way graphically mixes up the gameplay across four procedurally generated worlds.

As the Queen you now must battle your way through different stages and survive boss battles.

What makes both Lost in Random games different is the combat.

You use the animorphic dice in order to roll a ‘punch’ or use a combat skill. In The Eternal Die Fortune can also be used to pave the path ahead, sometimes the journey is hidden.

But The Eternal Die takes a more battle arena feel as opposed to an adventure. Areas you go to and from are much like arenas and are only escapapble by clearing the area of enemies, and of course surviving.

Difficulty spikes almost immediately from the first combat scene. The Eternal Die is not kids play at all.

Fortune and Queen Aleksandra will encounter many NPC’s. Some will need you to do things for them before they offer any help, others just have a grudge against the once ruling monarch.

Lost in Random: The Eternal Die is a commitment of a play. Given that levels newly generate, each play through is different, you die and return, but it’s not what it was before.

This definitely makes the game refreshing, although the actual gameplay is somewhat repetitive.

The Eternal Die is a worthy play, if you have the patience and are familiar with the first game.

If you’re new to the world of Random, my recommendation is start with the first game before taking this one on.

The post Lost in Random: The Eternal Die (Xbox Series X|S) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Konami has announced Silent Hill f is set in 1960s Japan, where horror and psychological tension intertwine in an unforgettable narrative to find beauty in terror.

A new trailer offers a first glimpse at the creatures and combat in Silent Hill f. The game follows Shimizu Hinako, a teenage girl struggling under society’s pressure of expectations, as she navigates her hometown of Ebisugaoka now shrouded in fog and undergoing a disturbing transformation. Players will have to unravel mysteries, battle otherworldly threats, and come face-to-face with choices that will determine Hinako’s fate.

In the remote mountain town of Ebisugaoka, teenager Shimizu Hinako leads an unremarkable life, until a thick fog descends, transforming her once-familiar home into a desolate and terrifying place. With the town seemingly abandoned and an unknown, creeping menace lurking in the mist, Hinako must navigate the spectral remnants of her past, solve intricate puzzles, and battle horrifying entities to survive. Faced with impossible decisions, she must ultimately choose between beauty and madness, confronting the horrors that await within the fog.

Silent Hill f will challenge players with uncomfortable themes and their attached psychological torment. The game reflects the customs and culture of Japan during that era while delivering an intense and deeply emotional horror experience.

Silent Hill f will launch on 25th September 2025 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.

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Antstream Arcade is proud to announce its collaboration with Xbox to launch Retro Classics, a collection of over 50 iconic games now available for Game Pass members globally.

In collaboration with Activision and Blizzard, Retro Classics brings beloved titles such as Pitfall!, Kaboom!, Commando, and Mech Warrior 2 on Xbox consoles, the Xbox app on PC, or streaming on supported LG and Samsung Smart TVs, Amazon Fire TV devices, and Meta Quest headsets.

With innovative features including cloud saves, global leaderboards, new challenge modes, and multiplayer tournaments, Retro Classics restores the experience for today’s gamers on modern devices.

“We’re thrilled to bring decades of iconic gaming to modern audiences and proud that Xbox trusted Antstream’s proprietary platform to make this possible,” said Steve Cottam, CEO of Antstream.

Xbox Game Pass members can also sign up to access Antstream’s full catalogue of 1300+ retro games on subscription for their first year on console.

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What we’ve come to expect from an RPG, and the RPG gameplay sphere itself has evolved epically in the past twenty years, since Bethesda’s pioneering Oblivion.

Originally released in 2006 after Morrowind, an inpiration to any RPG video game that was to come after and now remastered, the adventure awaits once again in a richly detailed current gen remaster on Xbox and PC.

Playable in either first or third person, the story starts as Emperor Uriel Septim (voiced by Patrick Stewart) is killed by assassins, along with all his known heirs. Your goal is to find and protect his son, who has been brought up in secret and knows nothing of his heritage. The story will take you all around the game’s world, a province of Tamriel called Cyrodiil, through to Oblivion. 

The pace of play does an excelled job of guiding you from one point to another, with fast travel. You’ll come to rely on this often, if you didn’t play Oblivion back in the Xbox 360 days, the world is too large to go on foot if you need to revisit an area.

Absolutely nothing stops you, once the tutorial sequence is over, you can explore this vast world and take up the plot intermittently as you wish. 

Want to climb the ranks of the Fighters Guild or the Dark Brotherhood of Assassins? Go for it, Oblivion is your game. 

A huge amount of detail and time has gone into side-quests that most players may not even find nor finish. Wandering around a populated area is likely to turn up something to do at any given moment. Homes to rip off, people to annoy and job offers. Sniffing these out is all part of play. You can absolutely spend hundreds of hours just exploring and completing side quests, almost forgetting your main mission.

The combat system relies more on reactions and timing. Your stats affect your combat performance and you can assign spells or weapons to hot-keys so you do not have to pull up your menus constantly.

Stealth and archery are viable character choices just as much as the more traditional mage or warrior standbys and you can blend these aspects to suit yourself. Even the lock picking mini-game is still among the best of I’ve experienced.

Probably the most impressive part of this title is that ‘real world’ feel. Enter a bar in the evening, and you’ll be greeted by the hustle and bustle of the townsfolk relaxing. Oblivion’s towns are alive with genuine and individualistic activity. Sure we RPG players mostly expect this in any given game of this genre, but you have to realise that this game, although remastered, is two decades old.

Every location, no matter how irrelevant or mundane has books to read, chests to open, or loot to steal. Every little detail in the game feels hand-made. 

Visually we are greeted with a 4K masterpiece. A few months back I actually revisited the orginal Oblivion. It had aged, sure, graphically, but gameplay wise it still had the goods. The remastered version is a lot smoother and fluid, no jaggedness or in-game lag here and your distant horizons do not suddenly pop into view.

This is Oblivion how it was originally imagined. Now reimagined, remastered for those of us that loved the original, or for a new generation of Elder Scroll fans.

The post The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered (Xbox Series X|S) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Ubisoft’s long-running Assassin’s Creed saga visits feudal Japan with Assassin’s Creed Shadows.

Fans have long cried out for an Assassin’s Creed game set in Japan. The romanticised idea of ninjas and samurais, honour and battle, sits well with the series’ themes and gameplay.

2020’s Ghost of Tsushima had Sucker Punch Productions and Sony Interactive Entertainment beat Ubisoft to it with a game that was Assassin’s Creed in all but name. Drawing more from a Westernised fantasy melded with films of Akira Kurosawa than historical accuracy, Ghost of Tsushima nevertheless set a high bar for Assassin’s Creed Shadows.

Whilst I’m a huge fan of Assassin’s Creed games, the rocky path of this latest game, with its lengthy delay and controversies during development, gave me cause for concern. With Star Wars Outcasts not being as well received as the publisher would have liked, Ubisoft has a lot riding on Assassin’s Creed Shadows.

Thankfully, the extended development time seems to have paid off, with Assassin’s Creed Shadows being one of the most beautiful games I’ve ever played and possibly the best Assassin’s Creed game in a while. But I didn’t find it instantly appealing.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows starts slowly, introducing the character of Yasuke, the black samurai who has caused much of the game’s controversy. Controlling the powerful warrior, players unleash hell through a carefully scripted sequence that has none of the open-world gameplay that the series is known for.

Players then switch to Naoe, a young shinobi, the polar opposite of the brutal samurai. Again, players are led through a curated sequence. With this, the game tries to ingrain its stealth mechanics into the player via a rather unforgiving scenario. Whilst it had me cursing, it wasn’t too long before I got to grips with Naoe’s moves. By the end of the prologue, I appreciated what the developers were trying to do, even if it was a bit on the nose and a chore at times.

As a reward for my efforts, the game world then opened up. And what a world it is.

The game builds on the vast open areas of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla whilst not ignoring the back-to-basics intent of Assassin’s Creed Mirage’s combat system. The result is a gorgeous-looking game that offers players enemy opponents that actually present a challenge. The enemy AI can sometimes be just as iffy as it has always been, allowing for some gaming of the system, by and large, though you’ll still need your wits about you.

The ninja/shinobi abilities of Naoe are totally befitting an Assassin’s Creed game. The animations as she leaps and runs across rooftops are straight out of pop culture references to the shadowy warriors. Whilst Naoe’s movements may be closer to Frank Miller’s depiction of ninjas in his Daredevil comics than historical reality, it ticks the box for me.

Whilst Valhalla’s Eivor gave me no inspiration for any finesse when dealing with fortified sites with multiple enemies (she is a Viking warrior, for God’s sake, a people not renowned for any subtlety), things are different with Naoe. Not only will attacks from multiple enemies quickly become overwhelming in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, but Naoe’s abilities and movement also promote stealthy infiltration.

For players that have long given up on the stealth foundations of the series, there’s Yasuke, so you can continue to wage war, head-on. Whilst the powerful samurai isn’t really in keeping with the principles of Assassin’s Creed, most of the entries in the series of late have been straying far from the original premise, anyway.

Apart from the brief introduction at the beginning of the game, it was twenty hours in by the time I next had an opportunity to play as Yasuke, at the beginning of Act II. After this, players can switch between both characters. Some side missions and targets are available to both characters, but Yasuke and Naoe have their own story missions as well.

The game not only has a night/day cycle but also the turn of the seasons. This drastically changes the environment, with leaves turning orange and snow on the ground. Water also freezes, giving Naoe a fun slipping animation as she crosses the icy surface.

The game has a wanted system similar to the one in earlier games, and most recently in Mirage. This only comes into play after the first act. If guards ring a bell your character will be a target in that region and powerful guardian opponents will also spawn. The only way to remove a character’s wanted status is to wait for the season to change (or manually change it) or use scouts to remove it once your hideout has been upgraded. Switching characters also removes the wanted status, as long the other character isn’t wanted in that region as well.

Players can upgrade their hideout area with new buildings which add extra abilities. The forge allows weapon upgrades. The study and stables improve the abilities and number of scouts- which can be used to smuggle resources, reveal quest locations and remove a character’s wanted status. The Dojo allows players to train allies that can be called for assistance during combat. Other buildings increase experience multipliers and loadouts.

Probably the weakest part of the game is the story. That’s not because it is particularly bad, it’s just that the environment, the visuals and the gameplay all trump the narrative, which only really serves to move the player on to the next task. The Assassin’s Creed story has been a diminishing focus of the game since Ubisoft tied itself up in knots to such an extent that it had to kill off Desmond, back in Assassin’s Creed III. The emphasis since has been more on the vividly realised settings and the player’s interactions in those environments than a rigid story structure.

The game is every bit as packed with things to do as the previous Assassin’s Creed games to the point of being overwhelming. The vast environment is full of towns and villages, many offering ornate castles and fortifications with treasures to be unlocked once the daimyos have been defeated. There are also ronin that will attack on sight, creating a bit of mayhem if the local guards spot you fighting.

All this is tied together by visuals that look absolutely breathtaking. The game may use the same engine as previous Assassin’s Creed games, but this just makes for a more optimised experience. The atmospheric effects are incredible, with sunlight fighting through mist, and fog shrouding the landscape. Flowers blow in the wind as you run through them. In built-up areas, citizens go about their business. The world feels very much alive.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is still very much in the same vein as Valhalla, offering players a fantastic, huge environment to explore that is beautifully rendered. The gameplay balances the stealth of Naoe’s shinobi with the brutality of Yasuke’s samurai to give players two very different ways to play.

The game is another hit for Ubisoft and one that they are no doubt in need of right now. The Assassin’s Creed saga continues to entertain with feudal Japan being a very fitting era for the franchise and one that fans are sure to enjoy.

The post Assassin’s Creed Shadows (Xbox Series X / PC) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Strained family relationships, a small community that looks out for eachother, an absentee Grandma and a hurricane.

All of this right up front in the first few moments of Compulsion Games’ South of Midnight.

The wild weather causes severe flooding in the Southern American town of Prospero and our main protagonist Hazel sees her family home and her mother swept away.

Trying to save her mum, Hazel has no choice but to seek her distant and wealthy Grandmother’s help.

But what she gets is an adventure like no other as the weaves and strands of both time and matter reveal themselves and place Hazel in a world that only she can see, a world where alligators are as big as houses, catfish can talk and a childs toy comes alive.

Think of Alice in Wonderland, fused with Wizard of Oz with a good ole’ southern American flavour, the story of South of Midnight is an original mix of dark and sad emotions, fused with humor and one epic play through.

Hazel soon becomes atuned within the Grand Tapestry. An ethereal weave that binds the Universe together.

Unbeknownst to her she is a natural Weaver and has the ability to control the strands of the Universe.

While she is on a path to find her mother Hazel comes across Knots and Stigma. These are essentially emotional or physical traumas and memories left behind within the Grand Tapestry and manifest as dark and foreboding enemies in various forms.

Taking these out by weaving restores the tear they cause and assists you to eventually upgrade your abilities… while you also bottle forgotten emotions.

Floofs are a near to transparent object found hidden away throughout this mystical swampy land and these can be spent on the said upgrades to your skills.

Speaking of skills Hazel picks up new abilities at game specific intervals, from wall running to hurling herself over vast distances, grappling and more.

South of Midnight plays out in chapters. Each new chapter reveals more about the wider story as well as what had gone on before and how all of this is going to eventually make sense. It’s a dark narrative.

Graphically South of Midnight is beautiful. The cutscenes are stop motion and in-game visuals are based on that stop motion.

The environmental details are beyond anything, spectacularly detailed and while South of Midnight is a third person play, total free roam can be limited. So to find Floofs you need to be observant for hidden areas or alternative paths.

South of Midnight is full of southern American lore, mixed with family dynamics and of course a fantastical story.

A game that pulled me in when I was able to do an early preview play months ago. A game that I had been needing to play through since that first taste, and a game you need to sink yourself into.

So far in 2025 South of Midnight, an Xbox / PC exclusive, is my pick for the best title this year.

The post South of Midnight (Xbox Series X|S) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

The curtains rise, the stage is set—Once Upon a Puppet takes the spotlight! In this behind-the-scenes walkthrough, Flatter Than Earth Game Director Martin Malek takes you beyond the velvet drapes to witness the artistry of the game.

Once Upon a Puppet delivers a captivating world of lost stories, shifting stages, and dramatic puzzles. Step into the shoes of Nieve, the exiled Stagehand, and Drev, the Puppet bound to her by fate, as they unravel the mysteries of the Understage and fight their way back to the grand theater above.

In the dev walkthrough, viewers join Nieve, the stagehand, and Drev, the aspiring puppet star, as they uncover the secrets of a forgotten kingdom. This exclusive video reveals how handcrafted set pieces, dynamic character interactions, and the rebuilding stage mechanics bring this world to life.

Once Upon A Puppet Once Upon a Puppet launches on April 23, 2025 for PC (Steam), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch, and Steam Deck.

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