The 2TB Samsung 990 Pro is down to £152.99 at Ebuyer in the UK

The Samsung 990 Pro is a blazing-fast PCIe 4.0 SSD, offering incredible speeds of up to 7450MB/s reads and 6900MB/s writes – right up against the limits of the PCIe 4.0 standard.

Normally this drive retails for about £200 in its massive 2TB incarnation, but now you can pick up this drive for just £152.99 at Ebuyer in the UK – a great deal on a drive that we’ve named as the very fastest PCIe 4.0 SSD for shorter loading times.

Read more

Guide: Nintendo Live 2023: Dates, Everything You Need To Know

Get the lowdown on Nintendo’s upcoming event.

In-person gaming events have gone through a bit of a rough patch over the last few years. E3 is seemingly dead and buried, and although Geoff Keighley is making hay with Summer Game Fest, some publishers are increasingly forgoing physical events for more focused, curated digital showcases.

Nintendo in particular has been especially fixated on its Direct presentations, and it doesn’t look as though that’s about to change anytime soon. What the company has started, however, is a new in-person event called ‘Nintendo Live’.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

The Razer Edge 5G: The Newest Gaming Handheld on the Block

The Razer Edge 5G is the latest iteration of mobile gaming and takes it one step further by allowing games to play outside of WiFi range with Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband Network.

We were so excited to learn more that we sat down with Kelsey Peterson, the gaming lead on the product marketing team at Verizon. One of the biggest takeaways from speaking with her is the Razer Edge 5G is made by gamers, for gamers. And at the same time, it’s not just limited to gaming. They wanted to elevate the mobile gaming space with a custom-built, next level tablet that would change the way you think about mobile gaming. Let’s get into it.

First thing to keep in mind: it’s not a mobile phone or an e-reader. It’s a tablet built like a PC for gaming but don’t worry, no driver updates here!

The second big thing is the Razer Edge 5G seamlessly takes gaming out of the home. You may be thinking to yourself, why now? Because, as Kelsey Peterson said, “We finally have a network with a capacity that can stream AAA games. It means I’m not limited to what my phone can support” which leads to potential that’s never been seen before.

The Razer Edge 5G will bring AAA console gaming to wherever you are as “5G Ultra Wideband is fast enough and reliable enough you can’t tell the difference between something that’s downloaded on the device and something that’s being streamed.” The Edge 5G provides TV-quality performance in the palm of your hand, with 2-way speakers with Verizon Adaptive Sound for more immersive, 3D surround sound. The display also comes in at just under 7” while also rocking an HDR AMOLED™ FHD+ panel and up to a 144Hz refresh rate to ensure your games look better and run smoother.

You know what else can’t be matched? The performance. The Razer Edge 5G runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon® G3x Chipset with cooling capabilities that actively cool the device as it heats, all while keeping the dive quiet with its tiny built-in fans. That cooling tech isn’t just ensuring that your graphics stay sharp, it’s also enabling you to game longer with up to 40% more battery life! All that combined with the device’s low latency means “you can see a night and day difference” during long play sessions compared to cloud gaming on a mobile phone.

So what about the games? They’ve got that covered, [with the Razer Edge 5G] “mobile gaming now means I have my entire Xbox library on there. I’ve got almost my entire Steam library through Steam Link or Nvidia GeForce NOW”. Peterson loves the ease at which she can play games, then pop the controllers off to use the tablet to stream her favorite video apps from the Android marketplace. With the Razer Edge 5G, you’re free to pause a game in one location then unpause it somewhere else! It’s akin to Netflix, pause your show, and sign in at a different spot- exactly where you left off. There’s no starting over or making additional accounts. And that’s true of the device overall- it’s about your games, your library, your way. The Razer Edge 5G can be a primary gaming device, and could easily be a partner device to your consoles or PC, taking those gaming experiences with you when you leave. All that power in your hands? It’s hard to believe. But thanks to HyperSense Haptics for complete control and total immersion, your hands will believe that power for themselves.

The Razer Edge 5G takes advantage of Verizon’s full 5G network as well as 4G LTE and Wi-Fi 6E. That means you can be connected no matter where you go. Visit Verizon.com for the latest pricing and promotions. For those who want to learn more, check out the product page!

Have your Razer Edge 5G and a game in mind? Then you have what you need for a brand new mobile gaming experience, wherever you are.

Advertisement by Verizon

Xbox Elite Series 2 Controller Getting Tons of New Colors

Microsoft’s already-impressive Xbox Design Lab is expanding even further, as the company announced a ton of new colors for its high-end Xbox Wireless Elite Series 2 controller.

Available starting today, the Elite Series 2 controller now has the choice of 16 main colors, 12 face button colors, 17 accent colors for the paddles and D-pad, and 25 accent colors for the rest of the controller. The new expansion starts at a price point of $149.99.

Some of the new colors include Garnet Red, Glacier Blue, and Deep Pink, along with new options like black-out ABXY buttons. You can take a look at some of the new colors for yourself in the image below.

Microsoft has also highlighted the Inspired By collection, where game studios have taken a shot at designing an Xbox controller inspired by classic Xbox characters and franchises.

Xbox added the Elite 2 controllers to the Design Lab last October, allowing players to fully customize the triggers, D-pad, thumbsticks, and more. You can even select between a cross-shaped or faceted D-pad in the Xbox Design Lab. There are also new red and blue colors for the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 – Core, which are available now.

In our review of the Elite 2 controller, we said, “Microsoft has delivered a fancy controller with some handy tweaks to the original. It comes with a decent number of extras to add value, but the experience suffers from faults that shouldn’t be present in this price range, especially when the original Xbox Elite controller is now cheaper and has almost the same functionality but without the issues.”

For more, check out our comparison of the Xbox Elite 2 and PlayStation’s DualSense Edge.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN covering video game and entertainment news. He has over six years of experience in the gaming industry with bylines at IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine, and Lifewire. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

You can play Half-Life: Alyx without VR glasses using a handy new mod

Right from the start, modders tried to make Valve’s virtual reality shooter Half-Life: Alyx work without needing VR glasses. Now another such mod has reached the point of Alyx being fully playable from start to finish on a regular monitor with keyboard and mouse. This new mod looks more polished than some others, and claims it’s the “easiest to use and most flexible” of the lot. I’m not too interested in a VRless Alyx but I’m sure it’s welcome news to some.

Read more

Cyberpunk 2077 Patch 1.62 With New Ray Tracing Mode Rolling Out on PC

CD Projekt Red (CDPR) has rolled out new high end ray-tracing features for the PC version of Cyberpunk 2077, courtesy of the newly released Ray Tracing: Overdrive mode introduced in Patch 1.62.

The new PC exclusive features are geared towards high-end rigs, and will bring a “fully ray-traced, aka path-traced, rendering mode to the game”, according to a new post on the Cyberpunk 2077 website.

The developer states that the technology is capable of accurately simulating light throughout any given scene, taking into account the characteristics of emissions from an unlimited number of sources to create faithful shadows, reflections, and global illuminations.

As a result, the full set of new features are extremely GPU-intensive, and will only be available on a limited number of NVIDIA cards.

At launch, Cyberpunk 2077’s Ray-Tracing Overdrive mode is available for PC players sporting the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series (4070 Ti and up), and can also be run at 30 fps at a resolution of 1080p on NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 3090. PC players who have other ray-tracing capable cards will be able to render fully path-traced screenshots via the game’s photo mode.

Patch 1.62 also saw the implementation of NVIDIA’s artificial intelligence-based DLAA anti-aliasing mode, along with support for the Intel Xe Super Sampling 1.1 performance improving upscaling technology. Check out the official Cyberpunk 2077 blog for a full list of the updates and relevant PC specifications.

CDPR has branded the release of the new features as a “Technology Preview”, to reflect the fact that the developer is expecting the resource intensive graphics features to have significant “issues” at launch.

“It pushes the boundaries of what’s possible in technology,” read the update blog. “However, because it is so new and fundamentally different from what we’ve been using so far, we know it’s not going to be perfect from the start and players might experience some issues – that’s why we’ve decided to call it a ‘Technology Preview’”.

The new graphics options are switched off by default. However, players with the requisite hardware will be able to switch to the Ray-Tracing: Overdrive preset – or enable the Path Tracing feature alone – via the graphics menu. CDPR has also stated that it is committed to improving the feature moving forward.

Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer

Review: TRON: Identity – A Tight Visual Novel That Fans Of The Films Will Love

Griddy with anticipation.

The world of Tron is filled with intrigue, opposing forces, and not-so-subtle hints at the influence humans have on the programs living within their computers. While the two films followed humans who made their way to The Grid, TRON: Identity is a visual novel that offers a look at how programs interact when there aren’t any humans around to interfere.

Tron: Identity casts players in the role of Query, a Disciple of Tron who is tasked with discovering the truth behind an explosion. The game does a solid job of casting Query into the classic role of the hard-boiled detective. Though he is significantly less hard-drinking and aggressive than the likes of Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe, that is certainly the vein of fiction that Bithell Games (Thomas Was Alone, Subsurface Circular, John Wick Hex) mined for inspiration, right down to the near-constant rain that falls on the dark streets of The Grid.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Everything You Need to Know About Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0’s New Recruit A Friend Program

Summary

  • Earn unique in-game rewards by recruiting and completing challenges with your friends.
  • Unlock rewards each time you complete some of the various challenges in Warzone 2.0 and earn 2XP Tokens just for signing up.
  • Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 is available to play for free on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One. Download here.

Lots of things are better with friends. Pizza. Movies. Games. On that latter point, a new Recruit A Friend program that will be kicking off in Season 03 of Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0, where players can enjoy some awesome in-game rewards, including some Double XP tokens, just for signing up!

The Recruit A Friend program will be running throughout the entirety of Season 03 in Warzone 2.0 and we’ve got a bunch of the details outlined below. And make sure you check out the official Call of Duty Blog for all things related to the upcoming Season 03.


Who Can Play?


The Recruit A Friend program will be available to all players who are at least 18 years old and have an Activision account in good standing (players in Austria, Argentina, New Zealand, Belgium, Peru, Czech Republic, Denmark, Norway, Ireland, Philippines, and Poland cannot participate in this program).

Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 Screenshot

Players will be grouped into two categories: Recruiters and Recruits. Recruiters must have at least three hours of total gameplay completed in Warzone 2.0 and an Activision account that’s at least 60 days old; Recruits must have an Activision account that’s less than 7 days old and must not have played Warzone 2.0 for more than 60 days.


Recruiters and Recruits


Recruiters will have the opportunity to recruit up to three eligible players to join them during this program. Also, after accepting the invite, Recruits will automatically be connected as Activision friends with their Recruiter making it easier in the future to team-up on future deployments together.

Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 Screenshot

If you signed up for the program after receiving and accepting an invite from another player, you will officially be marked down as a Recruit; Recruits can only participate in the program alongside their Recruiter. Also, you may only participate in the Recruit A Friend program once, either as a Recruit or Recruiter. Finally, once you’re recruited, you cannot be recruited by another player.


How do I Invite Friends to the Recruit A Friend Program?


First, visit the Recruit A Friend official website (link coming soon) once it goes live starting on April 14 and select “Get Started.” Log in with your Activision account and you’ll then be taken to the program’s dashboard. From there, copy your link on the dashboard and share it with up to three friends you want to recruit. Once accepted, you’ll see their usernames on the Recruit A Friend dashboard. Now comes the best part…


How to Complete Challenges and Earn Rewards


Now that you’ve recruited a friend (or have been recruited), it’s time to party up and jump into Warzone 2.0 and complete the specific “Recruit A Friend In-game Challenges” listed in the game. You can also find these within the in-gameRecruit A Friend dashboard to check and track your challenge status – Recruits can earn up to three free rewards while Recruiters can earn up to nine. Both will be eligible for the 2XP sign-up bonus.

Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 Screenshot

All this news is following details around the next big free content drop with the start of Season 03 for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II and Warzone 2.0. Jump in and experience the return of Gunfight, launching with four small maps that are perfect for 2v2. Also get ready to experience five new Multiplayer maps, gear up for Raid Episode 03, deploy as rival Operators Alejandro and Valeria, and more! You can get full details on Season 03 for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II and Warzone 2.0 here on the official Call of Duty Blog.

Xbox Live

Call of Duty®: Warzone™ 2.0

Activision Publishing Inc.


2431

Welcome to Warzone™ 2.0, the massive free-to-play combat arena which now features the brand-new map, Al Mazrah.

Turn the Heat Up
Join forces with your friends and jump into a sprawling battleground in the metropolitan area and rural outskirts within the Republic of Adal.

Loot For Rewards
Discover supply boxes and complete contracts to build your arsenal and gain a tactical advantage.

Battle Across Epic Modes
Drop into the all-new sandbox objective-based mode to choose your own experience within the warzone and collecting gear to keep in your Call of Duty®: Warzone™ 2.0 inventory.

Purchase the Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® II Vault Edition and get the Red Team 141 Operator Pack, FJX Cinder Weapon Vault*, 10 hours of 2XP, 10 hours of Weapons 2XP, Battle Pass and 50 Tier Skips** – also usable in Warzone™ 2.0.

An Xbox Live Gold subscription is not required to play the Warzone™ 2.0 game mode. All other online modes still require Xbox Live Gold.

*Weapon Vault design limited to Weapon Vault contents at launch.

**Battle Pass redemption applies to one season of Modern Warfare® II Battle Pass only.

For more information, please visit www.callofduty.com.

© 2022-2023 Activision Publishing, Inc. ACTIVISION, CALL OF DUTY, MODERN WARFARE and CALL OF DUTY WARZONE are trademarks of Activision Publishing, Inc. All other trademarks and trade names are the properties of their respective owners. This product contains software technology licensed from Id Software (‘Id Technology’). Id Technology © 1999-2023 Id Software, Inc.

Xbox Live

Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® II – Cross-Gen Bundle

Activision Publishing Inc.


2483


$69.99

$45.49

Includes:

– Cross Gen Bundle of Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® II
— Includes Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S versions of the game

Welcome to the new era of Call of Duty®.

Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® II drops players into an unprecedented global conflict that features the return of the iconic Operators of Task Force 141.

Infinity Ward brings fans state-of-the-art gameplay, with all-new gun handling, advanced AI system, a new Gunsmith and a suite of other gameplay and graphical innovations that elevate the franchise to new heights.

Modern Warfare® II launches with a globe-trotting single-player campaign, immersive Multiplayer combat and an evolved Special Ops game mode featuring tactical co-op gameplay.

You also get access to Call of Duty®: Warzone™ 2.0, the all-new Battle Royale experience.

For more information, please visit www.callofduty.com.

© 2022-2023 Activision Publishing, Inc. ACTIVISION, CALL OF DUTY, MODERN WARFARE and CALL OF DUTY WARZONE are trademarks of Activision Publishing, Inc. All other trademarks and trade names are the properties of their respective owners. This product contains software technology licensed from Id Software (‘Id Technology’). Id Technology © 1999-2023 Id Software, Inc.

Xbox Live

Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® II – Vault Edition

Activision Publishing Inc.


4062


$99.99

$74.99

Available for Xbox consoles exclusively on the Microsoft Store.

The Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® II – Vault Edition includes the Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S versions of the game.

Includes:

– Cross Gen Bundle of Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® II
— Includes Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S versions of the game
– Red Team 141 Operator Pack:
— 4 Operators: Ghost, Soap, Farah and Price
– FJX Cinder – First-Ever Weapon Vault*
– Battle Pass (1 Season) + 50 Tier Skips**
– 10 hours of 2XP and 10 hours of weapons 2XP

Welcome to the new era of Call of Duty®.

Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® II drops players into an unprecedented global conflict that features the return of the iconic Operators of Task Force 141.

Infinity Ward brings fans state-of-the-art gameplay, with all-new gun handling, advanced AI system, a new Gunsmith and a suite of other gameplay and graphical innovations that elevate the franchise to new heights.

Modern Warfare® II launches with a globe-trotting single-player campaign, immersive Multiplayer combat and an evolved Special Ops game mode featuring tactical co-op gameplay.

You also get access to Call of Duty®: Warzone™ 2.0, the all-new Battle Royale experience.

*Weapon Vault design limited to Weapon Vault contents at launch.

**Battle Pass redemption applies to one Season of Modern Warfare® II Battle Pass only.

For more information, please visit www.callofduty.com.

© 2022-2023 Activision Publishing, Inc. ACTIVISION, CALL OF DUTY, MODERN WARFARE and CALL OF DUTY WARZONE are trademarks of Activision Publishing, Inc. All other trademarks and trade names are the properties of their respective owners. This product contains software technology licensed from Id Software (‘Id Technology’). Id Technology © 1999-2023 Id Software, Inc.

Related:
It’s Time to Party with Modern Warfare II
Play Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II for Free This Weekend — Xbox Live Gold Not Required
Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 Tactical Guide – New Features, DMZ, and More

Retro-inspired shooter Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun blasts onto PC in May

Retro FPS Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun now has a release date of May 23rd, developer Auroch Digital have announced. Revealed last year, Boltgun is an homage to old-school shooters like classic Doom, mimicking those game’s speedy shooting and bloody visuals, and placing it in the Warhammer universe. Its loud, fast, and fun trailers meant Boltgun ripped its way onto RPS’ most anticipated games list, so thank the grim-dark gods for a release date.

Read more

The Best Reviewed Games of 2023 (So Far)

The snowball of games delayed out of 2021 and 2022 has settled in 2023, coalescing into the most exciting games lineup of the decade so far. 2023, arguably, marks the proper start of the PS5 and Xbox Series X generation with Unreal Engine 5 support building and an increasing number of developers dropping support for last-gen hardware.

Each of the three console manufacturers has at least one blockbuster release scheduled this year — Starfield for Xbox, Spider-Man 2 for PlayStation, and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom for Nintendo — complemented by a generation-best third-party lineup that includes Hogwarts Legacy, Resident Evil 4, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Street Fighter 6, Diablo 4, Final Fantasy 16, Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Hades 2, and Mortal Kombat 12.

The first quarter of 2023 is now behind us, and already the year has lived up to its lofty expectations: 20 games have received a review score of 8 or higher from IGN, including two 10s. Click through the gallery below or continue scrolling for our list of the best-reviewed games of 2023 so far.

This list only includes standalone software; despite qualifying scores, expansions/DLC (e.g., Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania) and hardware (e.g., PSVR2) are not included. This list will be updated weekly as new releases receive qualifying review scores.

Review Score: 8 (“Great)

These games leave us with something outstanding to remember them by, usually novel gameplay ideas for single-player or multiplayer, clever characters and writing, noteworthy graphics and sound, or some combination thereof. If we have major complaints, there are more than enough excellent qualities to cancel them out.

Atomic Heart

Atomic Heart is a deeply ambitious, highly imaginative, and consistently impressive atompunk-inspired attempt at picking up where the likes of BioShock left off – something it’s done with a lot of success. It certainly makes missteps, chiefly with an irritating leading man and a self-indulgent habit of using the same tired tropes it tries to make fun of, but this stern, superpowered, and stringently solo shooter has worked its way under my skin despite these flaws. Atomic Heart didn’t always blow me away, but it definitely has the ticker to punch well above its weight. – Luke Reilly

Company of Heroes 3 Multiplayer

It doesn’t have the bells and whistles that you might consider standard in a competitive RTS in 2023, but the core experience of Company of Heroes 3 is what really matters. What I’m saying here is that CoH3 has heart – it has that special something where moving your units to outplay opponents doesn’t just look pretty or mean you’ve played more hours and memorized the metagame, but genuinely out-thought the other player. A combination of interesting army design, good maps, and RTS fundamentals means I’m confident that playing Company of Heroes 3 multiplayer is going to be a fixture of my time off for years to come. – Jon Bolding

Have a Nice Death

Have A Nice Death is a punishing but satisfying roguelike with some diabolically tough boss fights. The darkly dorky setting and office humor lend it more than enough charm to make me want to discover more of its world. But it’s made significantly more frustrating than it probably needs to be by very stingy long-term progression and limited defensive abilities in comparison to its huge array of fun-to-use offensive weapons. When I wasn’t feeling the discouraging void inside dragging me down, I was reveling in the hundreds of ways I could make these visually and mechanically memorable undead wish they never lived at all. – Leana Hafer

Meet Your Maker

Meet Your Maker is an awesome action game that beautifully executes on a terrific concept. It’s missing some depth in its tools of destruction, has some bugs and wonkiness, and its thin story is a big ol’ nothing burger, but as a starting point for another live-service game from the team that brought us Dead By Daylight, it’s extremely impressive. Running through dungeons to best whatever unknown deviousness your fellow player has left for you is a great time, limited only by what the community can concoct, and building your own bases is the ultimate reward for your hard work that never stops being hilarious. As someone who loves a good heist and relishes any opportunity to watch others fall before my evil genius, Meet Your Maker has been hard to put down. – Travis Northup

Resident Evil Village VR

Resident Evil Village VR is far more than just a gimmicky afterthought, adding enough improvements and tweaks to justify fans of both the series and virtual reality reliving Ethan’s not-so-great European vacation one more time. While the controls be a little cumbersome as you take the time needed to master them and the VR perspective can cause a few awkward viewing angles, this is still a very enjoyable return to an already great game. – Taylor Lyles

Sons of the Forest (Early Access)

​​Sons of the Forest takes everything its predecessor did well and does it a little bit better. And considering how much I enjoyed the original, I can easily recommend this strong follow-up. Exploring a huge, beautiful, deadly island through the changing seasons is a treat on its own. The new base building mechanics could entertain me for days without ever touching the main story. And to top it all off, we have smarter and more unsettling enemy behavior paired with thoughtfully improved combat. It’s already great, and it’s still in Early Access. With some healthy performance optimization and shining up of an impactful but sloppy ending, it could become incredible. – Leana Hafer

Wild Hearts

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Koei Tecmo’s Omega Force is using Wild Hearts to flirt hard with Capcom right now. But using a beloved game as the template for a new one isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and Wild Hearts manages to introduce plenty of fun new ideas to the Monster Hunter formula while recapturing it well enough to stand proudly alongside the series that so clearly inspired it. The way it simplifies and streamlines things makes for a slightly shallower package, but its karakuri building adds a fresh new way to interact with the map in its place. And while its lower monster variety is certainly disappointing, I’m still having enough fun that I’m excited to party up with some friends and dive back into both challenging endgame fights and fanciful karakuri decorations alike. – Tom Marks

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty’s combat plays very differently from Team Ninja’s own Nioh games – more in the mold of Sekiro than Dark Souls – and yet it manages to excel and falter in just about the same areas. When it comes to the clashing of melee weapons, Wo Long is among the best in the genre, full stop. Its action is fast and thrilling, the options for taking down its ferocious enemies are many and immensely rewarding to master, and its deflection-heavy combat is one of the most satisfying since Sekiro. All of those strengths outweigh an overbearing loot system, poor storytelling, and even a disappointing lack of variety in enemies. If not for that, Wo Long might’ve been one of Team Ninja’s greatest achievements – as it is, it’s simply a great one. – Mitchell Saltzman

WWE 2K23

Whether you want to experience a TV-inspired story of young wrestling talent rising to glory, chop your way to the top at your leisure, take a guided tour of the most humbling moments in the career of one of the greatest to ever do it, or some other more nerdy diversion, WWE 2K23 is worth pinning down. It’s at least incrementally better in almost every way from last year’s entry in that combat feels more rewarding, flexible, and consequential. Where it overachieves, like in MyGM, it starts to finally restore the feeling that we could be on the ramp watching a new golden age of pro wrestling games make its glorious entrance. – Jarrett Green

Review Score: 9 (“Amazing”)

We enthusiastically recommend that you add these games to your to-play list. If we call a game Amazing, that means something about it seriously impressed us, whether it’s an inspired new idea or an exceptional take on an old one. We expect to look back at it as one of the highlights of its time and genre.

Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon

You know you’ve just played something special when you’re left with a bittersweet feeling while the credits roll. As I closed the book on Bayonetta Origins, I kept thinking about how it was an absolute joy through and through. From its impressive, fantastical story moments full of childlike charm to its clever platforming puzzles and satisfying battles, this is a superb action-adventure where every piece comes together to create a wondrous playable storybook. Its wild dual-character concept doesn’t really evolve much once you get the hang of it, and maybe its conclusion could have done more to leave a lasting impact. But it’s a journey I’ll cherish all the same, and one that’s been brought to life through a beautiful art style, stellar voice performances, and an outstanding soundtrack. Bayonetta Origins puts a neat little bow on an iconic franchise, and I’m glad we got to see that there was so much more to our beloved witch. – Michael Higham

Dead Space Remake

With its stunningly redesigned spaceship, smartly and subtly enhanced story, and spectacularly reimagined action scenes, Motive Studio has managed to successfully breathe new life into the seminal sci-fi horror universe of Dead Space. Despite the fact I’ve returned to the 2008 original several times over the years and found it to hold up fairly well, my latest journey through the darkened hallways of the USG Ishimura still managed to consistently surprise me and pull me into Isaac’s plight far more than ever before, while still satisfying my desire to butcher undead astronauts with an enjoyable arsenal of wildly unsafe mining tools. It’s clear that this superb Dead Space remake has been a labour of love for the team at Motive Studios, who’ve very carefully balanced innovation and renovation with preservation, and to their credit the end result is undoubtedly the definitive way to experience – or re-experience – one of the best survival horror shooters that Capcom never made. – Tristan Ogilvie

Fire Emblem Engage

It’s no small feat that Fire Emblem Engage is able to tell a simple-but-fun story that celebrates the vast history of its series in a way that doesn’t rely on prior knowledge of that legacy. Building the perfect team of diverse characters and pairing them with the Emblem Rings of past heroes allows for tons of customization and strategy, and blasting through the enemy ranks with their special powers is always immensely satisfying. Both its main and side missions provide a good deal of challenge, and clever twists and obstacles offset a reliance on overly familiar mission objectives. Couple all that with a suite of quality-of-life improvements that immediately feel vital and Fire Emblem Engage proves itself worthy enough to be counted alongside the legacy it honors so well. – Brendan Graeber

Gran Turismo 7 VR

Gran Turismo 7 is the same amazing simulation-focused racer it always has been, but playing in a PlayStation VR2 headset has elevated it in ways I wasn’t expecting. Driving its intense and alluring races in VR adds such a high level of tactility that you can physically feel the tweaks you make to your car, demystifying a lot of the otherwise intimidating optional customization for the average player. It also looks stunning, making up for flat menus and the lack of interactivity in its cabins with impressive lighting and audio alike. If you’re buying a PlayStation VR2 headset anyway, and you had to buy just one game to keep you busy for an indefinite amount of time, make it this one. – Gabriel Moss

Hi-Fi Rush

I swear Hi-Fi Rush could be a premier cartoon series. It’s got best-in-class animation, endearing heroes to cheer for, and villains you love to hate, all wrapped in good-natured humor. But on top of that everlasting charm, it turns a dynamic rock soundtrack into its greatest weapon, putting meticulous detail into syncing the beat to all aspects of the experience. It gives combat a uniquely satisfying momentum that other stylish-action games don’t offer, even when the platforming and targeting system drop a couple notes along the way. Hi-Fi Rush is a memorable journey that marches to the beat of its own drum and without a doubt stands among the action greats. – Michael Higham

Hogwarts Legacy

In nearly every way, Hogwarts Legacy is the Harry Potter RPG I’ve always wanted to play. Its open-world adventure captures all the excitement and wonder of the Wizarding World with its memorable new characters, challenging and nuanced combat, and a wonderfully executed Hogwarts student fantasy that kept me glued to my controller for dozens of hours. It’s certainly weighed down by technical issues, a lackluster main story, and some poor enemy variety, but even those couldn’t come close to breaking its enchanting spell over me. – Travis Northup

MLB The Show 23

After a somewhat disappointing 2022, it’s amazing how far forward Sony San Diego has pushed MLB The Show 23. It seems like every element has received attention, whether its the improved scouting in the Franchise mode, updates to match the current MLB rulebook, or a vastly more helpful practice mode. This remains a gorgeous showcase for baseball, with some of the most lifelike sights and sounds to behold in a sports game. It remains to be seen if Sets and Seasons in Diamond Dynasty will frustrate in the long run, but the crowning achievement this year is the Negro Leagues mode. This playable piece of baseball history is a triumph, presented with care, grace, and attention to detail. It’s courageous and bold, like the pioneers it highlights, and it’s astonishing to experience something so affecting from a baseball game. If for nothing else, that alone makes MLB The Show 23 a must-play. – Justin Koreis

Pizza Tower

Pizza Tower is a very special 2D platformer that transcends its inspirations and becomes something even greater. It’s a short ride, and it’ll be most appealing to those who are keen to restart levels in an effort to improve their score, but even if that’s not you, there’s a ton to like here. It is one of the most straight up fun and refreshing platformers I’ve played in recent memory, sporting an unforgettably unique art style, excellent animations, immensely rewarding platforming, wonderfully creative level design, a joyful sense of humor, and one of the best soundtracks of the year so far. Move over Wario, Peppino Spaghetti is-a number one now. – Mitchell Saltzman

Theatrhythm Final Bar Line

Theatrhythm Final Bar Line is full of charm and nostalgia alike, with cutesy versions of my favorite Final Fantasy characters and excellent remixes of the iconic songs that accompanied them. The light RPG mechanics, coupled with traditional rhythm mechanics, is easy enough to get into and deep enough to entertain fans of both. It’s a little bit of a letdown that there isn’t any storyline for your party of heroes to follow or another hook to keep me playing beyond beating my own scores in Endless mode, but its impressive tracklist makes Theatrhythm Final Bar Line an enjoyable way to listen to and play along with the most memorable songs from the Final Fantasy series. – Jada Griffin

Review Score: 10 (“Masterpiece”)

Simply put: this is our highest recommendation. There’s no such thing as a truly perfect game, but those that earn a Masterpiece label from IGN come as close as we could reasonably hope for. These are classics in the making that we hope and expect will influence game design for years to come, as other developers learn from their shining examples.

Metroid Prime Remastered

Metroid Prime has been one of my favorite games for decades, but I’m still shocked that its bones are so strong. 21 years later, in 2023, Metroid Prime Remastered had to do so little beyond modernizing the controls and updating the graphics to become one of the best games you can buy once again. This ultimate solo mission is a respite from the noise of hint-giving companions and lengthy cinematic cutscenes that make up much of today’s single-player games. Those things have their place, but Metroid Prime Remastered shows that you can tell a story and create a grand adventure by building an amazing world and creating unique and fun tools to explore it with. I strongly encourage you to delve into Metroid Prime Remastered, and get lost. – Samuel Claiborn

Resident Evil 4

Whether you’re a fan of the original or a newcomer with a hankering for some action-heavy horror of the highest quality, Resident Evil 4 is like a parasite-riddled Spaniard: a total no-brainer. Its combat is friction-free but no less stress-inducing thanks to its ferocious cast of creatures, its story rapidly shuttles through a series of action scenes that are diverse in structure but uniformly unwavering in intensity, and its world is rich in detail and full of fun and often snarling surprises. Its improvements over the original are too numerous to list, from simple quality-of-life changes to completely overhauled boss fight mechanics, and with the exception of the disappointingly diminished personality of the merchant, the team at Capcom has barely put a foot wrong. Whaddaya buying? Only the most relentlessly exciting Resident Evil adventure of all time that’s been rebuilt, refined, and realised to the full limits of its enormous potential. A wise choice, mate. – Tristan Ogilvie

What’s your pick for the best game of 2023 so far? Let us know by voting in the poll or dropping a comment below!

Jordan covers games, shows, and movies as a freelance writer for IGN.