Civilization VII review – your empire strikes back in glorious new detail
The fiendishly addictive sim returns with compelling fresh challenges across the ages. Prepare to say goodbye to a lot of free time
September 2024
EA Sports FC 25 review – taking graceful advantage of open gaming goal
While there are no spectacular advances on last year’s game, new refinements provide a vivid glimpse of what it’s like to be a genius on the field
July 2024
Pushing Buttons newsletter
The Xbox 360’s pioneering online store has gone offline – and it marks the end of a gaming era
In this week’s newsletter: We’ve become so used to digitally downloading games now that it’s easy to forget how novel it once was, thanks to places like Xbox 360’s Marketplace
May 2024
Canada legalizes it
I tried playing video games stoned for the first time in my 50s – and I have some thoughts
Dominik Diamond
Sea of Thieves on PlayStation 5 review – you’ll laugh, you’ll sail, you’ll drink grog until you’re sick
January 2024
Pokémon with guns: why Palworld could become 2024’s biggest game
This survival adventure from a relatively small Japanese studio sold 5m copies within three days of its release. What in the name of Pikachu is going on?
November 2023
Pushing Buttons newsletter
Pushing Buttons: The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One ushered in an era of technical brilliance – but creative timidity
Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection review – a great way to relive a lost world of gaming
August 2023
Bomb Rush Cyberfunk review – graffiti skateboard party like it’s 1999
This spiritual successor to Jet Set Radio has the same stylish look and feel, though with better gameplay for the outlaw street gang
July 2023
Summer games previews
Bomb Rush Cyberfunk: streetwise graffiti gangs paint the city wild
The latest release from Dutch studio Team Reptile sets adventurers loose in the futuristic metropolis of New Amsterdam
January 2023
A Space for the Unbound review – Indonesian school adventure has a fantastical twist
The story of Atma and his reality-warping girlfriend Raya demonstrates a flair for the dramatic and will keep you guessing right up to the end
November 2022
Marvel’s Midnight Suns review – superheroes, strategy and Gen Z banter
Sonic Frontiers review – wild, weird and a bit broken
October 2022
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II review – new thrills from the old campaigner
Scorn review – Giger-inspired horror puzzler is a revulsive but rewarding nightmare
A busman’s video game? Meet the people who play job sims of their own careers
Overwatch 2 review – a free-to-play shooter for the rest of us
September 2022
Fifa 23 review – EA’s final Fifa game bows out gracefully
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection review – worth shelling out
August 2022
Immortality review – a spellbinding cinephile puzzle about a vanished actor
This fascinating game provides an interactive film trilogy, complete with behind-the-scenes footage, to help solve the mystery of missing movie star Marissa Marcel
