Critical Arcade

This week on Critical Arcade, Dave and Nick grab their Rider gear, polish their Kinship Stones, and venture into the vibrant monster-filled world of Monster Hunter Stories 3. Unlike the traditional monster-slaying chaos of the main series, this time they’re building bonds instead of crafting boots out of everything that moves. Stepping into the role of a young Rider, they hatch monster eggs, raise...

This week on Critical Arcade, Nick and Dave suit up, check their ammo, and step into the brutal corporate battleground of Marathon. Set on the mysterious colony world of Tau Ceti IV, they take on the role of cybernetic mercenaries known as Runners—scavengers sent into dangerous zones to recover lost tech, alien artifacts, and anything valuable enough to make their corporate masters rich. The catch...

This week on Critical Arcade, Dave and Nick steel their nerves and step into the slow-burning dread of Resident Evil Requiem, a haunting new entry in Capcom’s iconic survival horror series. Set in a world rotting from the inside out, Requiem trades bombastic action for suffocating atmosphere, forcing the duo to creep through crumbling environments where every shadow feels suspicious and every soun...

This week on Critical Arcade, Dave and Nick bow respectfully, immediately forget that respect mid-fight, and throw themselves headfirst into the merciless world of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Set in a crumbling, blood-soaked version of Sengoku-era Japan, they take on the role of Wolf, a one-armed shinobi bound by duty, honor, and a prosthetic arm packed with far more gadgets than either host is cap...

This week on Critical Arcade, Dave and Nick once again wake up thirsty, overdesigned, and deeply unsure of what’s happening in the gothic anime apocalypse of Code Vein 2. Thrown back into a dying world of Revenants, blood codes, and coats with more belts than structural integrity, the pair find themselves navigating the aftermath of humanity’s last stand against extinction. Society has fractured,...

This week on Critical Arcade, Nick and Dave adjust their sensitivity sliders (and immediately regret it) as they dive deep into the stylish, suspicious, and surprisingly prophetic world of Perfect Dark. Set in the far-flung future of 2023, the game casts them as elite Carrington Institute agent Joanna Dark, a super-spy with a cooler name than everyone else in the building and an arsenal that seems...

This week on Critical Arcade, Nick and Dave drift off into the calm, colourful, and deceptively tricky universe of Harmony’s Odyssey. A puzzle game that looks like a bedtime story but thinks like a logic exam, Harmony’s Odyssey sends them hopping between floating constellations inspired by ancient myths, musical patterns, and cosmic folklore. Each world is a handcrafted diorama where perspective i...

This week on Critical Arcade, Nick and Dave make the deeply questionable decision to wander into the suffocatingly quiet, deeply cursed world of Fatal Frame, a survival horror series that proves the scariest weapon imaginable is a camera. Set across abandoned mansions, forgotten villages, and ritual sites soaked in tragedy, the duo must rely on the mysterious Camera Obscura to confront vengeful sp...

This week on Critical Arcade, Dave and Nick dust off their dual pistols, crank up the early-2000s angst, and step into the shadowy, conspiratorial world of Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness—the game that tried to reinvent Lara Croft… and occasionally forgot how legs work in the process. Fresh off being framed for the murder of her mentor Werner Von Croy, Lara finds herself plunged into the underb...

This week on Critical Arcade, Dave and Nick strap on their sandals, grab their gleaming katanas, and dive headfirst into the stylized, time-warped epic that is Samurai Jack: The Shadow of Aku. From the moment the boys hit “Start,” they’re hurled into a world where the future is corrupted, everything has an angular edge, and Aku’s voice echoes like a disappointed dad trying way too hard to sound in...

This week on Critical Arcade, Dave and Nick dust off their detective hats, light a cigarette under the flickering glow of a neon sign, and step into the rain-soaked, crumbling streets of dystopian Vancouver in Backbone. This isn’t your average pixel-art adventure — it’s a smoky, jazz-drenched neo-noir where everyone’s an animal, the city’s rotting from the inside, and the truth is far more terrify...

This week on Critical Arcade, Nick and Dave dust off their swords, shine their armor, and set out on a nostalgic journey through the land of Alefgard in “Dragon Quest I & II Remake.” Square Enix has taken two of the most important JRPGs ever made and given them the full HD-2D treatment—complete with shimmering pixel art, dynamic lighting, and a soundtrack that will make even the slimes tear up...

This week on Critical Arcade, Nick and Dave blast off to the outer reaches of the galaxy and dive headlong into The Outer Worlds 2 — Obsidian’s long-awaited sequel that promises more satire, more chaos, and even more morally confusing decisions than before. Gone are the familiar worlds of Halcyon; this time, the duo find themselves in a brand-new star system, filled with fresh corporate colonies,...

This week on Critical Arcade, Nick and Dave dive headfirst into the relentless chaos of Ninja Gaiden 4 — a game that doesn’t just test your reflexes, it punishes your mistakes. This time Ryu is out and Yakumo, a skilled ninja of the Raven Clan, takes the hot seat. Sounds like a Tuesday for a Super Ninja. Armed with his ever-growing arsenal, new Bloodraven powers, and enough wall-running stamina to...

This week on Critical Arcade, Dave and Nick set aside their usual chaos and step into something far more serene — Journey, the meditative, wordless adventure from thatgamecompany. Gone are the guns, gadgets, and dialogue trees. Instead, they don flowing red robes, a magical scarf, and head off into the endless desert toward a distant, glowing mountain that seems to call to them from across time it...

This week on Critical Arcade, Dave and Nick jack into the grid and find themselves in the glitchy, time-twisting world of Digimon Story: Time Stranger. What was supposed to be a casual dive into cyberspace quickly spirals into a full-blown temporal disaster when a mysterious program tears through the world, merging past, present, and future into one big, corrupted mess. Our intrepid hosts are drop...

This week on Critical Arcade, Dave and Nick stumble out of the safety of daylight and into the suffocating terror of Amnesia: Rebirth, Frictional Games’ 2020 return to psychological horror. Set in the vast, sun-scorched deserts of Algeria, this isn’t your average vacation. Taking control of Tasi Trianon, the duo must piece together a shattered memory, survive ancient ruins, and avoid the monstrous...

This week on Critical Arcade, Dave and Nick swap out shotguns and swords for watering cans and fertilizer as they take on the quirky, strategic chaos of Plants vs Zombies. Released in 2009, this tower defense classic turns your backyard into the frontline of the undead apocalypse, where survival depends less on firepower and more on creative landscaping. The duo must carefully balance planting sun...

This week on Critical Arcade, Dave and Nick lock, load, and launch themselves back into the loot-splattered insanity of Borderlands 4. Once again, the galaxy is on the brink of chaos, and naturally, the only two people crazy enough to handle it are our lovable vault-hunting duo. With a whole new planet to explore, filled to the brim with outlaws, synthetic robot followers, and creatures that look...

This week on Critical Arcade, Dave and Nick step into the desolate, war-torn world of Hell is Us. Set in a country ripped apart by years of civil strife and buried secrets, the game forces them to navigate a landscape where danger comes from both sides of the battlefield: hostile soldiers with guns and terrifying supernatural abominations with… well, whatever those fleshy nightmare appendages are...

This week on Critical Arcade, Nick and Dave finally get their hands on Lost Soul Aside, the game that spent longer in development than Dave did in college. They step into the boots of Kaser, a moody anime protagonist with more hair gel than common sense, and his wise-cracking dragon symbiote, Arena, who never misses an opportunity to roast his host. Together, they’ll stylishly hack, slash, and com...

This week on Critical Arcade, Dave and Nick lock and load as they stomp into the gritty, blood-soaked battlefields of Gears of War Reloaded. Humanity is on its last legs, cornered and desperate, after the ground splits open and unleashes the monstrous Locust Horde. Enter Marcus Fenix: soldier, survivor, and a man who probably only smiles when he’s chainsawing aliens in half. Alongside his brothers...

This week on Critical Arcade, Nick and Dave stumble into the fractured, nightmarish depths of Signalis. Released in 2022, this indie survival horror blends the pixelated charm of the PS1 era with a surreal, haunting atmosphere straight out of a fever dream. Players take on the role of Elster, a Replika technician on a desperate search for her missing partner, wandering through abandoned mining fac...

This week on Critical Arcade, Nick and Dave must grab their pocket knives, practice their Sicilian and pour themselves a glass on wine because they are taking on the role of Enzo Favara, an escapee of the Sicilian sulphur mines who trespasses onto the lands of Don Bernardo Torrisi the head of the local Mafia and a man who values trust above all else. Their lives become entwined with forbidden love...

This week on Critical Arcade, Dave and Nick dust off their PS1 nostalgia goggles and dive headfirst into the wonderfully weird and rhythmically chaotic world of PaRappa the Rapper. Released in 1996, this cult classic rhythm game has players rapping their way through everything from martial arts lessons to cake-baking catastrophes—all in the name of love. Our hero, PaRappa, may be made of paper, bu...