What did she wear? She wore a yellow ribbon in the merry month of May! I know this is a games blog, but I had to get that little Arsenal reference in there somewhere! This year genuinely seems to be flying by, and here we are again, at the end of May. Next month, I’ll be halfway through these yearly posts! Which is impressive for me, I gave myself until the end of February before I gave up. You’ll all be incredibly thrilled to know that I actually played some games this month! Join me as I take a deep dive into those games, and have a bit of a yap about them! There’s a real mix theme this month, a lot of shooters, but in different flavours. We have noir, roguelike and sci-fi! And a bit of racing for good measure!

If you read last month’s post, this first game won’t come as any surprise whatsoever. My copy of Saros did arrive on April 30, and oh boy did I put some hours into that game. Having recently played Returnal (as I spoke about in the March blog, please keep up), I was ready to sink my teeth straight into Saros on release day, and put that new PS5 Pro to the test. The question is, did it live up to the hype? Yes, yes, it bloody did. Saros is one of those games where you just don’t want to put it down, a few of my runs went long into the night and I just wanted to keep playing more and more. Housemarque have taken some lessons from Returnal, and I think overall it’s for the better. I’m not going to put it lightly, Saros is a lot easier than its predecessor, but I also don’t think that’s a bad thing. The game has multiple different modifiers you can enable, both to make the game easier and harder. Whilst I chose to stick mostly to the intended experience, there is a lot of room for maneuverer on both sides of the difficulty spectrum, and I think this will help the game get into the hands of more players. As much as I loved Returnal, it was brutal at times. There are also more meaningful permanent upgrades this time round, gone are the weapon aspects from Returnal, in its place is the Armor Matrix. You can pick stat upgrades, the ability to start with extra there’s ways to level up the ultimate (Overdrive), I didn’t manage to complete the Armor Matrix as there was just so many options! I ended up loving Saros a lot, so much so, that I wrapped up the game’s platinum trophy and got the full 100%. I settled on an 8.9 for Saros. There were a few little niggling issues, such as the memory leak that was present on PS5, and it was not the longest game ever, but it’s one I’d wholeheartedly recommend if you like third person shooters. Hopefully, Housemarque continue to build on Saros the way they did with Returnal, because I will be first in line.

I didn’t quite get around to the Returnal platinum, but I’m absolutely going to savour this one!

Next, after Saros, I decided to jump feet first into a game I’d been eagerly anticipating for over 3 years. Mouse: P.I For Hire finally released during April, and my expectations were high. The art style grabbed me immediately; and with it being a shooter, it looked like a match made in heaven for me. I’m happy to report that it mostly lives up to the hype. Firstly, the setting and the world were so authentic, I really felt like I’d been sucked in a cartoon from that era. I know the writing came in for a lot of criticism online, but I felt like it fit right in, the game is meant to be cheesy. It’s literally called Mouse. Looking at no one in particular, IGN. What I will say is, I did encounter a few bugs when playing on PC, the most egregious being where I couldn’t even finish the level on the game. I did also think the game lasted a little long, which to some people may not be a bad thing, but I found it outstayed its welcome just a tad. The game is really well made however, and the gunplay feels really satisfying, and challenging in places. After much deliberation, I finally landed on 8.2 for Mouse. I didn’t want to go below 8, as I had a lot of fun playing it, but I didn’t want to go above 8.5 as the bug that prevented me from finishing a level was really annoying. I’d definitely recommend it if you like boomer shooters however.

The developers sure do love to tease with their achievement descriptions. I do wonder what’s next for this universe! 85 gamerscore ain’t bad either!

Playing through Mouse had put me onto a shooter kick, and I was in the mood for something short and sweet, shoutout Sabrina Carpenter. I decided to tackle the standalone expansion to 2023’s RoboCop: Rogue City, aptly named RoboCop: Rogue City – Unfinished Business. I played the first game to completion a couple of years ago, and whilst I really liked the concept, the execution wasn’t all there and it was a bit of a letdown. I saw Unfinished Business cheap in CeX and decided I’d give it a go. I’ll be honest, Unfinished Business is an improvement, however it is ever so slight. Gameplay is largely similar to the original, which I didn’t mind, and the campaign is a lot more condensed, which makes sense due to it being expansion sized. However, my main gripe with the original game also returned, which was just how buggy it was. There were many occasions during my playthrough of Unfinished Business where the game would just stutter, or lock up for no apparent reason. For the sake of full disclosure, I was playing the game on Xbox Series X, but I do expect better performance to be perfectly honest. The original game had very similar problems, but I expected better the second time round. I think the shorter runtime works in the game’s favour however, and is why I placed it just above the original game. In 2024, I gave RoboCop Rogue City a 5.8, feeling that it was designed to be a traditional 7/10 licensed game, but the buggy nature knocked a few points off in my case. After some back and forth with my own brain, I ended up settling on 6.0 exactly for Unfinished Business. It’s slightly better. If you liked the original game, you’ll like this. If you didn’t? There’s nothing for you here, except maybe an easy Platinum or 1000G, if you’re into that kinda thing.

Not the worst game I’ve got 1000G/1000G in, that’s for sure. That accolade may well go to Bluey: The Videogame.

Shooters aside, May meant one thing for me. The launch of the hotly anticipated Forza Horizon 6. I’m just going to come out and say it right from the start, this game joins my exclusive list of 10/10 ratings. Playground Games have knocked this one out of the park, and I am quickly running out of superlatives to describe the game. I played 20 hours in 3 days, and I am still craving more and more. There’s something about driving round Japan in my Lotus Elite Series 1 Sport with the radio tuned to Horizon Wave that is just a PERFECT gaming experience. I liked Horizon 5, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as previous games in the series, namely Horizon 3 or 4. I understood why they chose Mexico, but I did feel like the map design didn’t really suit Forza, and that the lack of a big city really stuck out. Playground have got the balance right this time, you have the massive open city in the form of Tokyo City, or if off road is more your thing, there is vast amounts of countryside to just drive through to your hearts content. They’ve stepped up progression this time too, and I’m so glad to say that the Festival Wristbands are back! I sorely missed these, and it brings me back to my Horizon 2 nostalgia. There’s also a new addition of Stamps, which is essentially your “explorer” level. You want to smash every regional mascot in the game? You get explorer points for each one. You want to work as a delivery driver for 10 hours and max out the levels in it? You get explorer points for each level, and TRUST me, it is a grind. There really is something for everyone in this game, and I cannot stop praising it every single time I play. If you like racing games, please please please try this. That’s the second time I’ve made a Sabrina Carpenter joke in this piece, I really do need to stop.

I love love love the fact that they brought back Wristbands for this Horizon game. Even if I do think the Pink one is the best colour. Obviously.

On that note, time to discuss some pick-ups! A small one on the hardware front this month; after beating Saros and RoboCop Rogue City Unfinished Business, I decided to trade them in for some credit, and I used that to get myself a Switch 2 Pro Controller. I am incredibly impressed at the build quality and the feel of the controller to be honest; my Smash Ultimate Pro Controller is finally retired. The only game I’ve really used it on so far is Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition, as I’m slowly making my way through that.

On the physical games front, this month I decided to go a little crazy picking up games that I have been meaning to pick up for a while. Things like a physical copy of Bloodborne, Red Dead Redemption Game of The Year on Xbox 360, stuff I’ve been missing for a while. Without any further ado, this is this month’s list:

• Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (Nintendo Switch)
• Life is Strange: True Colours (PlayStation 5)
• Portal 2 (Xbox 360)
• Red Dead Redemption: Game of the Year Edition (Xbox 360)
• Red Dead Redemption (PlayStation 4)
• Ace Attorney Investigations Collection (PlayStation 4)
• Forza Horizon (Xbox 360)
• Call of Duty: Vanguard (Xbox Series X)
• Bloodborne: Game of the Year Edition (PlayStation 4)
• 007 First Light (Xbox Series X)
• Persona 3 Reload (PlayStation 5)
• Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity (Nintendo Switch)

That last game there is a bit of a giveaway for how I plan on starting June’s blog. 007 First Light is one I’ve had my eye on for a long time, being that I do love the Hitman games and IO Interactive tend to produce bangers. With any luck, I’ll also be talking about Xenoblade Chronicles next month, as I’m fully aware that it is another month without a game being ticked off the completion pledge list. The list is still as follows:

• Silent Hill Downpour
• Yakuza 6: Song of Life
• Hollow Knight: Silksong
• Sly Racoon
• Xenoblade Chronicles
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider
• Call of Duty: Vanguard
• Jak and Daxter

That brings us to the end of May! June looks set to bring us an Xbox Games Showcase, a State of Play and the annual Summer Games Fest, hosted by the wonderful Geoff Keighley. Hopefully, I have a lot to say on any upcoming games that we get to see, and maybe even Nintendo will poke their head around the corner with some announcements. I’m still once again being held hostaged by Slay the Spire, I may be 41 hours deep, but I will beat a run. I promise. That, or I’ll end up being completely invested in Destiny 2 again.

Thanks once again for sticking with me this long and reading this far. Unless you didn’t, in which case, I at least appreciate you scrolling down a bit. Take care, and if you’re in the UK, stay safe in the heat!

Love,

Squashy xo