Ahhh, August. This month genuinely feels like a blur, I can’t even remember what happened for half of it! I’ve had an eventful month away from gaming, with the Premier League season finally getting back underway and a sneaky London trip I managed to squeeze in too! However, I have managed to put some time into some games, and I’ve managed to get through a few, and I’m so excited to talk about them!
I figured this month would be good to try and tackle some of my Switch 2 library, and I realised that I had Star Fox sitting on the shelf ready to go, which seemed like a great way to start off August. Star Fox is a remake of the Nintendo 64 classic, Lylat Wars, and yes, I will insist on calling it that as I’m NOT American. Despite the series being a Nintendo staple, it’s one I’d never actually played before. I figured this would be a great jumping off point, and to be fair, I enjoyed it! It’s fast, fun, arcade action and it also isn’t very long to boot. Star Fox is designed for multiple playthroughs, and whilst I only did the one, I can appreciate that there are multiple pathways to completion and additional replay value in beating your high scores. I settled on a 7/10 for Star Fox on Switch 2. It’s fun enough, but I don’t think it’s one you should rush out to buy a Switch 2 for if you don’t already have one.
After Star Fox, I figured it was finally time to cross another game off the 2026 list. This time, with it being Summer, it was about that time of year where I play a Yakuza game. For some reason, I tend to play these around the summer months, it’s almost a tradition at this point. This meant it was time for Yakuza 6: The Song of Life. This one was genuinely the best Yakuza game so far. We’re back on Dragon Engine, after 3 straight games away. I played through this one on Steam Deck, and I’m happy to report that the performance was great. Both docked, and undocked, the game ran flawlessly. I really enjoyed the combat in this one, and I also enjoyed the fact we were back to 1 protagonist. Yakuza 4 and 5 definitely felt longer than they needed to be in places, and I can’t help but think this is due to the multiple protagonists in those games. With Yakuza 6 being back on Dragon Engine, the fighting feels so snappy and fluid. I had a great time with Yakuza 6, and I gave it an 8.2/10. Kiryu’s send-off was a strong one.
I can’t lie; I am not the biggest fan of all the story complete achievements being the same. I’m pretty sure that all of the Yakuza games have had this exact same achievement.
After Yakuza 6 was done and dusted, I decided to tackle another long-standing game on the Switch 2 backlog. I bought Pokémon Legends Z-A when it dropped last year, played around 10 hours and then stopped playing for some reason. Well, this year I made it my mission to wrap the game up. I inserted the cartridge and away I went to Lumiose City. I was already around halfway through, so I carried on from where I was. The game is genuinely pretty fun, and runs fantastic on Switch 2. I really enjoyed the character customisation too; my character was so CUTE with her Gardevoir. The battle system is different to most Pokémon games, and whilst I appreciated the change, I don’t know if this is the way Pokémon should go forever. Haha, Pokémon GO. Sorry. I settled on 7.8/10 for Pokémon, a fun enough experience, but I’m excited to see where Nintendo go with a true next gen Pokémon game.
Usually, I would attach a screenshot of the game’s credits, or the achievements. However, my character in Legends Z-A was just too cute to not include here.
I then realised, I’d played a lot of portable games this month, two Switch 2 games and Yakuza 6 on Steam Deck. I then turned my attention to the 2026 list once again, and saw that I was still yet to tackle Shadow of the Tomb Raider. I was due to play this on PC and take advantage of the stunning visuals, but once I booted the game, it had been removed from Game Pass. Amazing. Not to worry, as I dug the disc out from the shelf, and popped it in my Series X, I was going to finish this trilogy one way or another. I’m incredibly happy to report that Shadow of the Tomb Raider not only is a worthy conclusion, it’s probably the best game in the series. Stunning visuals, even on console, the puzzles are clever, and the combat is about what we expected from the Tomb Raider series at this point, snappy and intuitive. I also think that the Survivor Lara is probably the best she’s ever looked, as much as I appreciate the early design, I do feel like we have moved past it in some ways. I also really liked the outfit system in this one, with each outfit having a different passive. The main negative for me on this one is that it is quite short. I settled on 8.2/10 for Shadow of the Tomb Raider. It’s reignited my love for this series, and now I can’t wait for the new release in February.
I am NEVER going to turn down a lovely 100 gamerscore. Even if the achievement art is just the cover art. I can get over that.
August was a fantastic month for knocking games from the 2026 pledge list. This month I managed to knock two games from the list, meaning going into September, we are looking at these as the remaining titles:
- Silent Hill Downpour
- Hollow Knight Silksong
- Sly Raccoon
- Jak and Daxter
In terms of pickups, this month was incredibly light for me, I got a couple of new Xbox 360 titles:
- Tom Clancy’s EndWar (Xbox 360)
- Pro Evolution Soccer 2014 (Xbox 360)
For my final game this month, I asked a friend of mine for recommendations, and they suggested the Metro series, which I’d never played before. So, I decided to fire up Metro 2033 Redux on the Xbox Series X and get stuck in. I really wanted to love Metro 2033, but it was more of a “I like this, but I don’t love it” experience. I really enjoy the eerie, claustrophobic setting of the deep tunnels, and the guns are pretty iconic, the ball bearing rifle being a favourite. The AK was also a staple, and I enjoyed using it silenced and dropping in undetected. I also found the mask and filter mechanic to be incredibly realistic, and fun to engage with, whereas I was expecting the opposite. My main gripe with Metro 2033 is that it feels too ahead of its time for the hardware. The ideas and mechanics came along just that little bit too early in my opinion for the Xbox 360 generation. I have no doubt that Metro Exodus and Metro 2039 will be incredible and the vision will be fully realised. I settled on 7.4/10 for Metro 2033, some bugs in the Redux didn’t help either. I have full faith this series will get better.
I do appreciate the fact that Metro Redux has different achievements depending on if you chose Spartan or Survivor mode. Survivor mode was worth an extra 10 gamerscore, so naturally I picked that.
That officially rounds up August. I would just like to say that I know I posted this one 3 weeks later than usual, and I am sorry for that. I do plan on releasing September’s post as normal, maybe a few days late as I will be in Florida as the month changes, and then I’ve got an awful lot to catch up. Silent Hill Townfall, Control Resonant, Gears of War E-Day. We’re just getting started before the big one in November. See you soon.
Love,
Squashy x <3