Gaming the holidays
The 10 video games that earn Post Arcade’s 2020 stamp of approval Chad Sapieha
So you were lucky ( or persistent) enough to snag one of this fall’s hard- to- find next- generation game consoles, the Playstation 5, Playstation 5 Digital, Xbox Series X, or Xbox Series S.
The next phase is finding some worthwhile games to play.
That’s where we come in. Post Arcade has been playing games on Microsoft’s and Sony’s new machines for several weeks, and we have recommendations. The 10 games below all earn our stamp of approval. We’ve come up with options for just about everyone, including families, fans of action and adventure, RPG lovers, puzzle enthusiasts and gearheads.
TETRIS EFECT : CONNECTED
Score 8.5/10
Platform Xbox Series X|S (reviewed), Xbox One
Tetris Effect, which launched for PlayStation 4 with support for Playstation VR back in 2018, dragged the decades-old puzzler kicking and screaming into the modern era, updating graphics, effects, music and modes to create a dynamic conundrum for just about every mood, from chill to frantic.
This new Xbox edition keeps everything that made the original one of the best puzzlers in years and adds a heaping helping of multiplayer to the mix.
CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS COLD WAR
Score 8.0/10
Platform Playstation 5 (reviewed), Playstation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows PC
Set in an impeccable rendering of the early 1980s, when tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union were at their peak, the 2020 entry in Activision’s perennially popular war shooter series embraces its titular descriptors, sending a group of international spies on a series of patently illegal operations with the blessing of none other than that of the Gipper himself.
You can even tailor the game’s protagonist to have a variety of questionable traits that will impact the story in subtle ways.
WATCH DOGS: LEGION
Score 7.0/10
Platform Xbox Series X|S (reviewed), Xbox One, Playstation 5, Playstation 4, Windows PC
Watch Dogs: Legion delivers an uncanny vision of a near-future London in which shadowy entities have implemented familiar technologies to watch and control the population. There’s not one central protagonist, but instead the population of an entire city fed up with the thumb under which they all live. All you need do to recruit someone is walk up to them and start a conversation. Once you’ve helped them with a problem, they’ll join the resistance and become a playable character — often with their own unique skills and gear, depending on their career and knowledge.
DEMON’S SOULS
Score 9.0/10
Platform Playstation 5, Playstation 4, Windows PC
The medieval-inspired fantasy world of Demon’s Souls is beautifully rendered in 4K with jaw-dropping vistas and delectable little details. But the real draw here remains, as it ever was (or wasn’t depending on your gaming proclivities), the tense, gritty, nerve-wracking combat.
SACKBOY: A BIG ADVENTURE
Score 7.5/10
Platform Playstation 5 (reviewed), Playstation 4
It’s easy to get distracted with all the fun Playstation 5 wizzbangery Sony injected into this one. You can use the system’s new Activity Cards to check your progress on specific levels and jump straight into them from the Home screen, as well as access tidbits of help throughout the game. And there’s no question it looks great, loaded with textures for objects like sponges and cloth that look so real you’ll want to reach into the screen and run your hand across them. But these next-gen bonuses eventually fade into the background, leaving us to focus on the game itself, which — happily — is a lot of fun.
DIRT 5
Score 7.5/10
Platform Xbox Series X|S (reviewed), Playstation 5, Playstation 4, Windows PC
Car games have always been used as platforms to show off the potential of new consoles and this one is no different, delivering photorealistic rides with sophisticated lighting effects that include near-perfect reflections of the gorgeously muddy, hilly, icy environments through which the game’s rally cars can be found careening at break-neck speeds.
ASSASSIN’S CREED VALHALLA
Score 8.5/10
Platform Xbox Series X|S (reviewed), Xbox One, Playstation 5, Playstation 4, Windows PC
Set in the 9th century and focused on the notoriously aggressive Viking expansion tactics of the era, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla provides us with an enormous, sumptuous world filled with fascinating historical personalities, locations and political turmoil. In turns educational and entertaining, exploring England as an invader and doing things like discovering the legacy of famed Viking warrior Ragnar Lothbrok is rarely anything short of exhilarating.
YAKUZA: LIKE A DRAGON
Score 7.5/10
Platform Xbox Series X|S (reviewed), Xbox One, Playstation 5, Playstation 4, Windows PC
Players take on the role of new protagonist Ichiban Kasuga, a gangster who finds himself embroiled in a somewhat melodramatic series of illicit events involving the Arakawa crime family. We control Ichiban — and several of his associates — in tactical brawls, where the action pauses between moves, allowing players to select character-specific attacks in a manner similar to traditional turn-based role-playing games.
GODFALL
Score 6.5/10
Platform Playstation 5 (reviewed), Windows PC
A specific subset of players is bound to have a great time with Gearbox’s quirky “looter-slasher.”
It’s set in a flamboyant fantasy world filled with impossibly shiny alien metals and too-bright colours that, if nothing else, show off the impressive processing prowess of the Playstation 5. And its characters, a collection of superhuman warrior avatars battling mythical monsters in an attempt keep a man named Macros from acquiring the power of a god, are majestic in their madly elaborate suits of plated mail.
MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN: MILES MORALES
Score 8.5/10
Platform Playstation 5 (reviewed), Playstation 4
If there’s an essential Playstation 5 launch game, this is it. It marries the world of Sony’s hit Playstation 4 game Marvel’s Spider-man with that of the animated film Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse, introducing us to a broad cast of interesting, likeable characters as our titular hero takes on the task of protecting Manhattan while “the other Spider-man” goes on a European vacation. It’s jam-packed with funny, heartwarming, wholesome scenes and dialogue.