2022 was a stacked year that featured indie darlings (Immortality), blockbusters (God of War Ragnarok), and smaller, surprise hits (Marvel Snap), so it shouldn't be a shock that a game or two slipped under your radar. But the biggest blink-and-you-miss-it release might be late November's Need for Speed Unbound, the latest entry in EA’s long-running street racing series. With Criterion Games (of Burnout fame) at the helm, Unbound had the potential to be one of the best racing games of the year—or a return to series form after a few missteps. But while aesthetically pleasing and featuring cross-platform play with PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, the $69.99 PC game lacks satisfactory car handling and a thriving, in-game world.
Never mind the numerous necromorphs, the tortured torsos sprouting out of walls, or the terrifyingly towering space sphincter – the thing I was most scared of going into the Dead Space remake is that it wouldn't live up to my fond memories of the fantastically horrific 2008 original. After just over 12 hours spent stalking through the revitalized USG Ishimura I’m happy to report that of the many things to legitimately fear about this haunted space hulk, that was not one of them. This new Dead Space enhances the original in almost every way, using a Plasma Cutter to drop its ugliest appendages on the cutting room floor while preserving the essence of what made its distinctly dismemberment-heavy shooting so special, and grafting on welcome new character details in order to present its creepy sci-fi horror story in its very best light – and its most intimidating shadows.
At first I was afraid, I was petrified – I kept thinking "how could Respawn follow up on its outstanding Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order?" But then I spent so many nights playing the sequel finding out how they got it right and Cal Kestis grew strong, and I learned how to get along. And now we’re back, in outer space… okay, okay, don’t leave! I’ll stop. The point is that with vastly expanded combat options, bigger, more open maps, vastly more abilities to play with, and enough collectable stuff to fill a Correllian freighter, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is in many ways the Batman: Arkham City to Fallen Order’s Arkham Asylum. And much like the Arkham games did for Batman, nothing else convincingly captures playing as a Force user quite as well as this.
