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PlayStation.Blog •

007: First Light hands-on report — using stealth, action, and charm to become a legendary spy

When it was first announced that Hitman: World of Assassination developer IO Interactive was taking on the James Bond franchise with 007: First Light, it sounded like the perfect match of license and studio. The Hitman games focus on stealth, cunning, planning, and improvisation — a perfect fit for the legendary spy.

I recently went hands-on with 007: First Light across three missions, and saw first-hand how IOI has created a Bond game that combines action with a more thoughtful spy experienc...
PlayStation.Blog •

Pragmata: All the ways the Shelter expands gameplay and story

The Cradle, a massive lunar base that serves as the setting for third-person hacking shooter Pragmata, is a dangerous place to be. It’s crawling with killer robots, often popping up with little warning as you explore its many facilities and passageways. Luckily, there’s the Shelter, a tucked-away location that provides a place where you can build your arsenal, restock, heal up, and take a break.


The Shelter is more than just a place to prepare, though — it’s also where you can build the relat...
GameSpot •

Samson’s Crime Story Helps It Stand Out From GTA, But Jank Is A Problem

Like a lot of crime stories, Samson: A Tyndalston Story is about desperation, but it's the first game about jacking cars, punching gangsters, and stealing money that I've ever seen really turn that desperation into a gameplay loop.Developer Liquid Swords' dark and dingy third-person action game puts you in the title role as a low-level thug and expert wheelman who is way down on his luck. As is often a trope in stories like this, the protagonist owes a lot of money to bad people. Samson smartly...
GameSpot •

Magic: The Gathering's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Is The Most Video Gamey Set Ever

The echoing, digitized delivery of the phrase "Big Apple, 3 a.m." is something that's burned into my brain. My friends and I blasted through that first level of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time hundreds of times, beating up foot-clan dorks, grabbing pizzas, and falling in open manholes. So when Wizards of the Coast released its Magic: The Gathering TMNT set as part of its Universes Beyond brand, finding the card named Big Apple, 3 a.m. scratched exactly the nostalgic itch I was h...
GameSpot •

Marathon Review - Incredible Highs, Painful Lows

We started on Perimeter, the map tuned to provide the "easiest" experience in Marathon, and spent the next 15 minutes trapped in the very first building we entered, fighting every single team of player "Runners" in the match.It was GameSpot senior producer Jean-Luc Seipke's very first match in Bungie's online first-person extraction shooter, and it was nothing if not a trial by fire. Together with our matchmade teammate, we battled down hallways and around corners, flanking and catching opponent...
PlayStation.Blog •

Damon and Baby: hands-on with the ridiculous twin-stick shooter, out March 26

Arc System Works and Executive Director Daisuke Ishiwatari are known for fighting games, and their upcoming game, Damon and Baby, is a huge shift. It’s an action-adventure game that’s defined by an overhead viewpoint, twin-stick shooter mechanics, a lighthearted, cartoonish art style, and a wry, satirical wit — a departure from series like Guilty Gear and BlazBlue.

Damon and Baby is an expansive game that packs a surprising amount of depth and challenge. I recently played through the first 10...
PlayStation.Blog •

Invincible Vs open beta runs April 9 to 11, Training Mode details revealed

You’re about to experience more than a fraction of the power of Invincible’s characters. The upcoming Invincible Vs, a 3-on-3 tag-team fighting game based on Robert Kirkman’s comic series and the Amazon Prime adaptation of it, will hit PlayStation 5 on April 30. But before then, you can try the game with an open beta that’ll include 10 of its superpowered characters, running April 9 to 11.

Executive Producer Mike Willette sat down to tell us a little more about what players can expect in the...
Meta Blog •

Le Dino Labo Launches Today on Meta Quest | Meta Quest Blog

Imagine building the skeleton of a T-Rex bone-by-bone — and then seeing it at life-size, standing before you. That’s what’s offered by the puzzle-building experience Le Dino Labo, and it’s available today on Meta Quest.Le Dino Labo’s premise is simple: get your hands on a dinosaur skeleton. The game provides you with a bag of fossil bones you can dump out in your own space. Then, it’s a matter of piecing the skeleton together by figuring out where each bone connects with the others to build the...
PlayStation.Blog •

Mouse: PI For Hire hands-on report — classic FPS action meets rubberhose animation

Mouse: P.I. For Hire‘s rubber hose cartoon art style brings it a whole lot of absurd, slapstick humor, which pairs perfectly with its “boomer” shooter gameplay. But underpinning it all is a noir detective story that can be dark and adult as well as goofy and comedic, giving Mouse a fascinating depth that goes beyond its toon inspirations.


I recently went hands-on with an early level from Mouse: P.I. For Hire and got a sense of its fast-paced combat, twitchy boss battles, and underlying narrat...
GameSpot •

Magic: The Gathering's TMNT Set Nails The Feeling Of Getting Pummeled By Combat Cold Cuts

The opening scene of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze illustrates one of the things that's so fun about the movie. After the first TMNT film in 1990, parents reportedly pushed back against the heroes' use of weapons like katana, sais, and nunchuks. As a result, when the sequel rolled around in 1991, the titular turtles spent the whole movie not using their signature gear.It's a restraint that's pretty dumb in hindsight, undercutting a major element of what makes the turtle...
PlayStation.Blog •

Crimson Desert hands-on report: four hours in the RPG’s massive open world

Crimson Desert seems huge — not just in how much there is to do, but simply how enormous its world is. As an open-world RPG, that’s to be expected, but it’s only when you’re standing on a strange island floating in the sky, seeing the whole world stretch out beneath you, that it’s clear just how expansive the world of Pywel really is.


I recently went hands-on with the beginning portion of Crimson Desert and played about four hours, and while I never made it out to the landmarks I could see in...
Meta Blog •

13 Spooky VR Games to Celebrate Friday the 13th | Meta Quest Blog

No matter what time of year it is, Friday the 13th is a creepy day. That generalized spookiness has made the date a big moment in popular culture, and thanks to the film series of the same name, it brings a horror vibe to any month in which it falls. But you’ll need something a little more immersive to take advantage of the ambient creepiness on a wintery Friday — and that’s why we’ve compiled 13 spooky games to help you get into the Friday the 13th spirit.From funny and strange to gory and acti...
PlayStation.Blog •

Cairn — 8 advanced climbing tips to make it to the summit

To make it to the top of Kami, the mountain at the heart of Cairn, you’ll need to develop skill and intuition for climbing and use all the tools at your disposal. There’s a lot in the game you’ll need to learn through experience, particularly as you reach the more treacherous challenges at higher altitudes. Here are a few tips that’ll help you reach greater heights and see fewer dangerous falls as you make your way to Cairn’s summit.


The climbing gym at the start of Cairn is a great way to ge...
PlayStation.Blog •

10 quick-hit games to play, included with PlayStation Plus

Discovering a new game to get lost in for hours can be a phenomenal experience. But sometimes, you need a quick hit — a game you can pick up and play just for a bit and still have a great time. The PlayStation Plus Catalog and Classics Catalog are filled with games that fit that description exactly, offering experiences that you can dip into for a few minutes and have a blast. PlayStation Portal owners, these are great picks for you to cozy up with.


Below, we’ve compiled a list of 10 excellen...
Meta Blog •

Become a Vampire to Fight Vampires in Sci-Fi Shooter ‘Dixotomia,’ Launching Out of Early Access Today On Meta Quest

At the heart of sci-fi shooter Dixotomia is a dual nature — it’s right in the name. What isn’t immediately obvious, however, is the choice that dual nature will put to you: whether to maintain your humanity or sacrifice it to embrace the powers of the undead.Dixotomia is set in the distant future, where you find yourself in the shoes of a special operations contractor stranded on a far-flung planetary colony. A strange cult has taken over, but they’re not just fanatics — they’re vampires. As you...
PlayStation.Blog •

Code Vein II hands-on report

Code Vein II maintains the core elements of its predecessor, but it feels more like a standalone action-RPG than a sequel. That’s because it greatly expands on the series’ combat systems and ideas to offer a huge amount of customization, while telling an all-new story about vampiric characters called Revenants that’s not linked to the original Code Vein.

I recently got a chance to go hands-on with Code Vein II to check out its new systems, its time-traveling story, and its tough-as-nails boss...
PlayStation.Blog •

2025 was a great year for ninja and samurai games on PlayStation

Ninjas and samurai have always been a staple of video games, but even with their perennial popularity, 2025 has been an exceptionally good year for titles about deadly Japanese warriors. A bunch of ninja- and samurai-themed games hit PlayStation 5 this year, offering a huge variety of takes on the idea of becoming a sneaky, sword-wielding fighter in dark clothes.


From fast-paced combo-ridden action games, to slower and stealthier assassin-themed takes, no matter how you like your ninjas, 2025...
GameSpot •

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora – From the Ashes Hands-On Impressions

Massive Entertainment expands its take of Pandora with a new story that transforms the world and adds some cool new elements to an already solid game. When it was released in 2023, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora succeeded in the daunting task of bringing its own kind of life to the world of James Cameron's Avatar movies. Developer Massive Entertainment wisely chose not to retell the story of the films, instead weaving a tale on the other side of the moon of Pandora where the films take place.
GameSpot •

Avatar DLC Hands-On: How The New Movie Sets Frontiers Of Pandora's World Aflame

When it was released in 2023, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora succeeded in the daunting task of bringing its own kind of life to the world of James Cameron's Avatar movies. Developer Massive Entertainment wisely chose not to retell the story of the films, instead weaving a tale on the other side of the moon of Pandora where the films take place.But while Frontiers excelled at turning the dense, visually fascinating world of Pandora into a cogent, interactive space and exploring the culture of the N...
PlayStation.Blog •

Nioh 3 hands-on report

The striking thing about Nioh 3, even compared to the first two games, is how many options you have in any given fight. A huge number of weapons, stances, and abilities to create a vast array of fast-paced attacks, and help you survive against devastating, powerful opponents.


Publisher Koei Tecmo recently gave me a chance to go hands-on and explore a new area of Nioh 3, complete with a pair of tough bosses to battle. Here’s everything I found, saw, and fought along the way.


Nioh 3 puts you...
PlayStation.Blog •

Battlefield 6 Season 1 first details and hands-on report

Battlefield 6 has blasted onto the FPS scene, revitalizing Electronic Arts’ franchise with a return to classic elements and a hefty dose of widespread destruction. But its October 10 release was just the beginning. Developer Battlefield Studios has more free content coming for the game, starting with its first season, which kicks off on October 28 and runs to November 11.

Seasons for Battlefield 6 are broken into three timed, themed updates. The first in Season 1 is Rogue Ops, bringing a new...
PlayStation.Blog •

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 — hands-on report

For the first time ever, Call of Duty fans are getting back-to-back Black Ops games with the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 this year. Leaping ahead to the future of 2035, the game is a direct sequel to the story told in Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 — but what’s really interesting is the way it builds on the foundation set by Black Ops 6, with its introduction of systems like Omnimovement and the return of round-based Zombies.


At Call of Duty: Next, I got a chance to jump into the combat b...
PlayStation.Blog •

Battlefield 6 hands-on with Operation Firestorm, Mirak Valley

The thing that makes Battlefield feel like Battlefield is the enormous scope of its maps and the many ways you’ll fight your way across them. After Battlefield 6’s open beta test, I got another hands-on chance to play the game—this time, on two of its biggest maps and with the game’s full slate of vehicles strafing through combat.


While my first hands-on experience with Battlefield 6 gave a sense of weapons, the return of character classes, and the variety in map design, this look focused com...
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Iron Banter Column

A weekly column covering all aspects of Destiny 2, published at GameSpot.

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