Games Reviews

Soulslike games have been around for quite some time. And it looks like this year will be the best year yet for Soulslike games. Both existing games and upcoming games are very popular. If current expectations can be met, fans will have a feast of Soulslike games.

It looks like there will be a lot of new games that are completely unrelated to existing Soulslike games, which will bring new content to fans. Of course, rumors about Lies of P 2 have never stopped, although its resurgence is just a beautiful vision for players.

However, Elden Ring Nightreign will bring a new situation to Soulslike games in 2025. Fans can continue to pay attention to the developments of Elden Ring Nightreign.

Elden Ring Nightreign: Changes In Soulslike Games In 2025

Elden Ring Nightreign made its debut at 2024 Game Awards Ceremony and was known to fans. The game developer plans to release it in 2025, and there may be more details about the game released to fans in the future.

The reason why Elden Ring Nightreign is expected by players is that FromSoftware has not released a sequel. Although Shadow of the Erdtree, as a DLC, impressed players, it only added a map and brought some new weapons, shields and talismans that can be exchanged with Elden Ring Runes, and there was no new plot progress. The release of Elden Ring Nightreign means that Elden Ring may have a complete sequel, and there will be new storylines for players, so Elden Ring Nightreign is more anticipated by fans.

Although the developer insists that this is a completely independent game, in a sense, this may also be a “sequel”. In short, Elden Ring Nightreign will still have challenges due to some innovations in the game, but it is still worth looking forward to for players.

The Issue Of The Revival Of Lies Of P 2 Is Still A Mystery

At present, most of the news about this game is still rumors, and there is no content worth referring to. For the development of the game, there is still a lot of content worth discussing. Lies of P is the first game in the series. It was a big hit when it was released in 2023, making it a household name in Soulslike games. This brings two possibilities for the release of the second part.

One is that the developer continues to remain silent and weather the storm of rumors. The other possibility is that the developer will take advantage of the situation and release Lies of P 2 to show its difference from other Soulslike games.

But in either case, Lies of P 2 will not catch up with the wave of releases in 2025, because the development time of a game takes at least 3 years. But players can still expect developers to release game details and dates for possible new games.

New Soulslike Games Are Fiercely Competitive In 2025

Not all Soulslike games have such a huge background support. There will be many new Soulslike games competing this year. For example, The Relic: First Guardian and The First Berserker: Khazan, there are six new games that have attracted the attention of players this year. Two of them stand out.

The first one is Soulframe developed by Digital Extremes. Soulframe is bound to get a lot of good press as it is the developer behind Warframe. Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is more controversial, but fortunately the recent trailer has reversed its reputation and it is still a very strong competitor.

It is precisely because of so many developers that 2025 will be the most critical year for Soulslike games. It will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for players who want to learn about this type of game now.

The trailer released by Rockstar a few months ago caused a carnival among players, because this trailer represents the upcoming game, Grand Theft Auto 6.

In recent months, many media have made predictions about GTA 6. They estimate that GTA 6 will bring Rockstar $3 billion in revenue in the first year. Such speculation is not groundless. At least from the perspective of Rockstar’s fan base, they have been waiting for this game for a long time.

Prediction Of GTA 6

Rockstar’s GTA 6 is expected to be released on Xbox Series X and S and PlayStation 5 in the fall of 2025. However, Rockstar did not disclose whether GTA 6 will be available on PC.

According to the forecast of the British Financial Daily, GTA 6 will exceed $1 billion in pre-orders before its release. Video research agency DFC Intelligence predicts that GTA 6 will bring Rockstar $3 billion in profits in December after its release.

Strauss Zelnick, the boss of Rockstar’s parent company Take-Two, humbly said that he would not declare victory until GTA 6 is truly successful. However, he is sure that GTA 6 will be another extraordinary work brought by Rockstar.

GTA 6 is not only predicted to have high revenue but also has development costs that cannot be ignored. The Financial Times estimates that the development cost of GTA 6 may be as high as $2 billion.

In any case, the media seems to have placed too much expectations on GTA 6. Since 2022, the game industry has experienced a cold winter, and more than 33,000 people have lost their jobs. Game companies such as Microsoft and Sony have also carried out large-scale layoffs.

Game companies hope that GTA 6 can rekindle players’ interest in games and revive the game industry. At the same time, console manufacturers such as Sony are also confident that GTA 6 is the kind of game that can attract players to play consoles.

Why Are Media Confident About GTA 6?

This is not surprising, because the Grand Theft Auto series has always been one of Rockstar’s most popular series, and their last work was GTA 5, which was released in 2013. At that time, GTA 5 made Rockstar earn $1 billion in just three days, which was a miracle in the entire history of games.

In the past decade or so, GTA 5 has become a work that almost every gamer will own, and this game has indeed stood the test of time. To this day, the number of players playing GTA 5 is still very large, and the only game that has been released for many years and still remains active seems to be Elder Scrolls 5.

On the other hand, it is the excellent game quality of Rockstar Studio. The quality of Rockstar series games gives players confidence that they will not make failed works, and the biggest contributor should be Red Dead Redemption 2.

There is no need to say much about the excellence of Red Dead Redemption 2. This game released in 2018 is still top-notch in terms of graphics. And the story of Arthur Morgan proves to players that Rockstar has the ability to tell a good story. With these two guarantees, players are so looking forward to GTA 6.

Don’t Be Overly Optimistic

Although GTA 6 is destined to cause a stir in the gaming industry in 2025, there will still be some factors that will affect GTA 6’s sales.

Optimization

Rockstar’s optimization is good, but GTA 6 is huge, and no one can guarantee what kind of finished product Rockstar will present to players. Most players will not choose to pre-order because they are worried that the optimization is not good enough and their devices will not be able to run the game normally. Players have suffered from the disastrous first release of 2077, and now they will be more cautious.

Platform

There is no news yet whether GTA6 will be available on PC, and players don’t know how long GTA6 will be exclusive to the host platform. There are quite a few GTA players who are accustomed to playing games on PC, and most of them will not buy a host for a game area. If GTA 6 is delayed in logging into the PC platform, its sales will definitely be affected.

Competition

GTA 6 will not be the only game in 2025. There will be many excellent games released next year, such as Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, Monster Hunter Wild, Borderlands 4, Death Stranding 2, etc. These games are potential competitors of GTA 6.

In short, everyone is looking forward to the release of GTA 6, and players can’t wait to start their second life to rob some money in Miami. Will GTA 6 bring revolutionary changes to the game industry this time? Will GTA 6 be a next-generation game? Let’s wait and see.

Grinding Gear Games announced that it will launch a new game, POE 2. This is not only a continuation of the original game but also an attempt by the developer to change the ARPG mode in the game.

The Most Representative Change

POE 2 has made a very big change in the difficulty of the game. From the slower Souls-like campaign at the beginning to the very punitive Endgame now. This series of changes in game content has been hotly discussed by players in the community.

So now let’s talk about whether the current game content of POE 2 is too difficult? Is this difficulty really what POE 2 and this series of games need for future development?

Players who have played the campaign in POE 2 may have found that there are already some serious game atmospheres similar to the Souls-like campaign in the game. In this mode, although the game progress is slow, players will think more carefully in the game.

In the original Path of Exile, players prefer to move quickly to enter the battle faster and get the XP and currency dropped. In POE 2, the developers hope that players can slow down the game and fight after making more rigorous plans.

In the boss battle of POE 2, the boss is no longer just an enlarged version of the enemy with a special name. They are strengthened, and how much damage the player can cause will ultimately determine whether the battle can be won.

Therefore, players must understand the characteristics of the boss, find its weaknesses and defeat it, to have a higher chance of survival and obtain numerous Path Of Exile 2 Currency rewards. Otherwise, the player will be defeated and will not get any game rewards, which is very bad for players who want to get rewards quickly like before.

But because I like challenging games, I like this change very much. If you are also a player who likes fresh challenges, you can try POE 2 immediately.

In the campaign of Path of Exile 1, since players have no specific experience of participating in the battle, the story in the battle is difficult to be impressive. The community believes that this is a stepping stone for the game to develop to the Endgame as soon as possible.

I think this situation may not happen in POE 2, because the slower pace of the game allows players to think more systematically. Let the players understand what they are facing, what they want to get in the end, and how to do it. In this process, players will have a better understanding of the game and may also get a more memorable experience in the game.

The Endgame Map With Soaring Difficulty

When talking about the topic of POE 2’s map, many players may become very serious. Because in the map, clearing the enemy is only the most basic requirement. More importantly, the player cannot die. Once the player dies, he will lose the map, 10-15% of the XP and all the resources invested in the map in the early stage. But this is only unfriendly to newcomers. Some old players who have played the previous game are still familiar with this mechanism.

Another item related to the map is Waystones, which is closely related to the player’s progress in drawing the map. Because of this, they are relatively rare. Therefore, if the player cannot maintain a good winning streak, he cannot get a map that matches his strength. The final result is that the player needs to start over. I share the same opinion as some players. This mechanism is still too cruel.

In my opinion, increasing the difficulty of the map does help improve the playability of the game and make each victory of the player more meaningful. But the current punishment measures are still too harsh. If the loss of XP can be appropriately reduced, or Waystones can be obtained more easily, then while enhancing the playability, it will also allow players to have a better gaming experience.

An Innovation Worthy Of Recognition

The slow pace of the campaign and the difficulty of the map bring a heavy and dangerous color to POE 2 Endgame. Every action of the player on the Atlas Map must be carefully considered, in order to compete for their own Waystones rather than just basic XP.

Such a change will make a few players feel uncomfortable, but the developer can make adjustments and balances in the future. For players who like to use their brains to play games, this change is great for them! So, test how far you can go under these rules and immerse yourself in the game world!

There were many refreshing games in 2024, but there were no top games competing with each other. On the other hand, there were many poor games this year, which either did not make any waves among players or were very painful to play and left a deep impression.

It should be noted in advance that these poor games are more subjective, and some players may have played them or even liked them, which is normal. Everyone has different tastes, and these games may just hit your taste. But if you have not played these games, it is not recommended to try them with curiosity.

Boring

• Slitterhead
• Terminator: Dark Fate - Defiance
• Millennia
• Sins of a Solar Empire II
• The First Descendant
• Until Dawn Remake
• The Casting of Frank Stone
• Bodycam
• Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
• Mario & Luigi: Brothership
• Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown
• Unknown 9: Awakening
• Kong: Survivor Instinct
• SpongeBob SquarePants
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants Unleashed

It’s a bit surprising to see so many games at once. But these games are not all unpopular games. In fact, some of them are still played by some people. The main problem with them is that they are boring. They are the kind of games that are bland and have nothing new to say. You may play them one night and forget about them the next day. This doesn’t mean that you can’t have fun with them, but you have to work hard for it.

Slitterhead sounds interesting. You have to parasitize monsters in the human body in the city. However, this absurd horror action game is not scary to play, or even absurd. After the initial novelty, players will soon find that the monster design is monotonous and there is not much novelty. Terminator: Dark Fate - Defiance is similar. The setting of fighting against Skynet makes people excited, but the actual play is very mediocre.

The First Descendant is a shooting game with amazing graphics, but that’s all. The rest of it can only be called mediocre at best. In short, it is only good in looks.

The Casting of Frank Stone is a derivative of Dead by Daylight. As a horror adventure game, its biggest problem is that it can’t make people feel scary.

The handheld camera in Bodycam trailer was once so real that it shocked players. However, the final game was not what it seemed.

Unknown 9: Awakening is a game that the creator did his best to make a mediocre game. Putting aside the controversy among the player community, its game content is enough to make people fall asleep. What’s more amazing than the game itself is how the creators were able to make such a formulaic action-adventure game.

There are a few games that I haven’t mentioned, but they all have various problems. Some remakes are not as good as the original games, some sequels do not inherit the core of the original games. Some games are simply annoying in terms of game design. In short, their own flaws make them not good enough.

Poor Quality

• Broken Roads
• Forever Blue Luminous
• Funko Fusion

Bad games are much more harsh than mediocre games. Because these games can actually cause players mental pain when playing.

Broken Roads is a turn-based RPG set in post-apocalyptic Australia. It tries to give players a serious RPG experience and adds a morality system that can determine whether the characters live or die. However, Broken Roads prepares a very detailed morality questionnaire for players to decide their various positions. Other than that, players will not feel that this morality system has any effect in the game.

Adding morality systems to games is fun, but only if you can use them. When you play Broken Roads, you will find that this game is just a bunch of inexplicable errands and disappointingly long dialogues, with few moral choices.

Forever Blue Luminous brings players a dream from the bottom of the sea, with light blue pictures and over 500 kinds of fish, allowing players to experience the fun of diving. However, players will soon find that this is actually an endlessly looping nightmare.

All the underwater scenery is randomly generated, and your last exploration will not bring any help to your next exploration. And the maps generated by the program are specious and similar. This game has no combat content, so you can only feel endless boredom.

Funko Fusion is a Lego adventure game, but it is not as good as the worst Lego game. In addition to the basically meaningless plot, the tasks are extremely repetitive, and there are fatal bugs that prevent players from continuing to advance the game.

The Worst

• Atomic Heart: Trapped in Limbo
• South Park Snow Day!
• Empire of the Ants

Trapped in Limbo is the second DLC for Atomic Heart, and it takes place after the main story ends. This DLC introduces two terrible mechanics. The first is that the player needs to slide and avoid obstacles for a long time, and sometimes jump. But jumping feels very uncomfortable and is not always very sensitive.

The other is that the player needs to perform first-person platform jumps. The problem is that the jumps are not very accurate, which quickly becomes a torture. The bad thing is that this torture will accompany you until the end of the game.

South Park Snow Day! is the third work of South Park. Its first two works are very good, but South Park Snow Day! made a big change. It went from an RPG to a 3D action game. The problem is that this transition does not seem to be very successful. Its operation feels very clumsy, and more importantly, it abandons the most important element of the previous game, humor. Players need to endure the bad operation to complete this unfunny game, which is undoubtedly a punishment.

Empire of the Ants has beautiful graphics, but its single-player story mode is terrible. Most of the combat missions are easy. The AI seems to have no idea how to use the important mechanics in the game, and the tough missions are annoying. Since you can’t save in the middle of a mission, you have to replay the entire mission after getting stuck, and you can’t skip the boring parts that are easy to play and only replay the challenging parts. The developers have almost never polished this story mode. Maybe they just thought they needed to make a story mode and rushed to make it.

These are the poor games of 2024. I wonder if you have the misfortune of playing one of them. Maybe you feel that the worst game you think is not mentioned above, you can also share your worst game played in 2024.