Developer: IO Interactive
Publisher: IO Interactive
Release Date: May 26, 2026
Reviewed On: PC
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Review

A full review is available in episode 231 (1:47:08) of the Couch Company Podcast:

✅ Pros

• Combat and stealth blend seamlessly throughout the game.

• The story feels like an authentic, well-told Bond movie.

• Characters are memorable and surprisingly easy to get attached to.

• Environmental detail and world-building are excellent.

• Level design offers real replayability with multiple approaches.

❌ Cons

• Combat gadgets feel underused and rarely necessary.

• Challenge mode is a separate menu instead of being seamlessly integrated.

• Visuals are strong but fall short next to games like Forza or Resident Evil.

Final Score: 90 (Gold)

Developer: Beethoven and Dinosaur
Publisher: Annapurna Interactive
Release Date: May 7, 2026
Reviewed On: PC
Steam →

Review

A full review is available in episode 231 (1:28:56) of the Couch Company Podcast:

✅ Pros

• The soundtrack fits the music-curator theme perfectly.

• Stop-motion visuals are artistic and distinct.

• Small graphical choices are woven into later scenes.

• Characters feel realistic and relatable.

• Pacing is tight and rarely drags.

❌ Cons

• Late-game moments feel tonally jarring.

• Slow, low-interactivity style won’t suit everyone.

• Budget likely limited the soundtrack’s song selection.

Final Score: 86 (Gold)

Developer: Fumi Games
Publisher: PlaySide
Release Date: April 16, 2026
Reviewed On: PC
Steam →

Review

A full review is available in episode 231 (1:15:20) of the Couch Company Podcast:

✅ Pros

• Boomer-shooter gameplay is solid and fun.

• Character designs and cartoon art style look great.

• Troy Baker’s voice acting is a standout.

❌ Cons

• 3D movement clashes with the 2D hand-drawn art style.

• The variety of weapons feels shallow.

• The “detective” story is too linear to feel like solving a mystery.

• Boss fights are repetitive and uninspired.

• Cartoon charm and Doom-style violence clash tonally.

Final Score: 75 (Bronze)

As King of the casuals, it’s incredibly rare to pull my attention away from the camaraderie that multiplayer games combined with Discord chats offer. I don’t really discriminate against games based on my own preferences, except for one thing: will my friends play this with me? If, for whatever reason, there were a wildly popular multiplayer game that revolved around running a soup kitchen for the drug-addicted homeless, I would be radically confused about the game’s overall purpose. However, if said game existed, and my friends were spending all their time playing it, I would hop on the bandwagon, without shame, like the good American that I am.

Obviously, there have been blockbuster single-player games that have captured my attention over the years—the Arkham franchise, God of War, Spider-Man, BioShock, Uncharted, Wolfenstein, etc. I have a mile-long list of beloved single-player experiences, but Alien: Isolation stands among them, strong and proud. Alien: Isolation didn’t come from heavy-hitter publishers who are in the hall of fame for good reason; it came from SEGA, of all places. Yes, Sonic the Hedgehog is great, but if I were to tell you in 2014 that SEGA would be responsible for one of the greatest entries in the Alien franchise, you most likely would look at me with the same radical confusion as you would for a soup kitchen simulator. Alien: Isolation is, in my opinion, perfect, and like the perfect organism, I look forward to fearing its sequel, hopefully later this year. While I pray for its success, my greatest fear is that it will fall victim to the several-decades-long curse of failing to live up to its predecessor.

When Alien: Isolation burst onto the scene in 2014, IGN, in its eternal wisdom, scored the game with a “Mediocre” 5.9 out of 10. I won’t nitpick every detail about how wrong this score is; other than that, the author quite literally complains about dying too many times in their experience. To be fair to IGN, I played this game for the very first time in 2022 on PS5, not in 2014. Simply put, IGN couldn’t be more wrong on this take.

The Xenomorph is one of the greatest science fiction monsters ever created, and this game more than lives up to that reputation. The AI controlling the aliens’ movements consists of two simple parts. The Alien itself actively searches for the player to kill. At the same time, the second AI interface, called a “Director,” gives the Alien random hints to keep the player constantly working and navigating the environment around them, which brings me to one of the best parts of this game that IGN got wrong. Will you die a lot? Yes. Will this constant battle deter you from playing? No. This game is so exciting. You are constantly in a satisfying fight-or-flight state that makes you think and keeps you checking over your shoulder, over and over. There is even a feature in the game that can be turned on, which allows the microphone on your headset to translate the sounds you make into the game, so the Alien can actually hear them. This feature is so strong that the Alien can hear the air you breathe into the mic as you cower in a locker to avoid your imminent demise. Alien: Isolation is a survival horror game by definition and puts a whole new meaning on survival, which is what I want when playing a title designed to create fear.

The overall mechanics and graphics of this game couldn’t complement each other better. The setting of Sevastopol Station is a copy-and-pasted image of the original Ridley Scott masterpiece from 1979. The claustrophobic, mechanical space station captures that same alluring aesthetic that made the original film so captivating. Nothing from the pipes, the doors, and Xenomorphs loo’ look shows a flaw, which is far more than can be said of some games made even today. The gameplay mechanics help this shine. In reality, you play as a 25-year-old woman who is fighting, quite literally, a perfect organism. You are not a battle-hardened warrior or an alien expert trained and well-read on the threats they may face, but an average person figuring out how to do one thing. Survive. Player movement and combat feel smooth enough but not overly polished because they shouldn’t be. This isn’t Call of Duty, where you can slide 20 miles per hour to avoid bullets fired at you. You are a basic human who is incapable of destroying the monster you face. That feeling of being at a disadvantage matches the decrepit, industrial nature of the environment, which effectively immerses the player in dread. The sound design is the cherry on top. Every sound not only matches what we expect from an Alien movie but also deepens the player's immersion. Any time you hear the Alien in the vents or a steam pipe releasing mist, you will never hear anything that makes you think anything other than the game you’re playing in the moment.

Past the experience of the game, the plot shines just as bright. I am in the minority among Alien fans who claim that the original title is better than its immediate sequel, Aliens. Yes, Aliens is a great movie and one of my favorites, but it abandoned the horror aspect of the original in favor of an action-packed shoot-’em-up. Does this make it a lesser film? No, it’s simply a matter of taste. However, Aliens abandoned one of my favorite plot points from the original film: the mystery centered on the shadow corporation Weyland-Yutani and the crew expendable protocol. In Alien, the main character, Ellen Ripley, discovers from the computer mainframe named “Mother” that her ship, the “Nostromo,” was sent to the planet LV-426 to investigate a distress call. Upon investigation of the planet, one of her crewmates gets a parasite attached to his face that later birthed the Xenomorph on the ship, killing her entire crew. I’m aware that we all know the story. During this scene, Ripley investigates “Mother’s” orders and discovers that the computer system knew there was an alien life form on LV-426 and that the organism was to be captured and returned to the company (Weyland-Yutani) under any circumstances, even at the expense of the Nostromo’s crew. We never get a resolution to this plot point in the original film, and it was completely ignored in the immediate sequel. Subsequently, the entire Alien franchise ignores this plot altogether. Which is why I’ll make the bold statement that Alien: Isolation is the sequel to Alien we never got.

In Alien: Isolation, you play as Amanda Ripley, the daughter of Ellen Ripley. Amanda, working as an engineer for Weyland-Yutani, is climbing the company’s ranks to find out what happened to her mother after her sudden disappearance following the events of the original film. The story begins with Amanda being assigned to a reconnaissance mission to the space station “Sevastopol Station”, where the station notifies Weyland-Yutani that it has the black box from the mining ship “Nostromo”. Knowing this is the first real opportunity for Amanda to finally get the answers she’s been looking for, she takes on the mission, only to find Sevastopol Station in complete disarray. While playing this game, you not only enjoy the linear story but also immerse yourself in the hidden lore and backstory that nearly every computer you can access in-game offers. This game goes above and beyond in world-building. Reading every message you can to understand what happened to Sevastopol Station, as well as details that add to the main plot, shows how much love and care went into this game and the franchise it belongs to. It’s a perfect jump from the original film. Both properties are classic monster horror, while taking the claustrophobia Alien had to offer and expanding it to a massive space station. You get to scale up while keeping the feeling that made the first part of this franchise so amazing.

As you can tell, I have a great deal of love not only for this game but for the franchise as a whole (despite its ups and downs), and after 12 long years for those who actually played at launch, we are finally getting the next chapter in the story. The trailer for Alien: Isolation 2, which dropped at Summer Game Fest, did not disappoint. We are getting a return of the perfect organism in Unreal Engine 5, in an environment that closely resembles the original film’s aesthetic. This trailer was filled with plenty of little details that fans of the first game can recognize, which is really setting the bar high for me, especially in the finer details of the look and plot that made me fall in love with its predecessor. However, the Alien franchise has no shortage of misses, and I will do my best to keep my expectations in check if this game follows the pattern of so many of the franchise’s follow-ups and disappoints its fan base. However, there is no shortage of excitement for this game, and I couldn’t recommend Alien: Isolation enough.

My score for Alien Isolation is 8.9 out of 10.

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I’ve been a casual gamer my entire life. My very first consoles were a hand-me-down Nintendo 64 and original PlayStation 1. As a 27-year-old today, I can appreciate what games like Goldeneye, Super Mario 64, and Twisted Metal did in their time, and how they were the official start of modern gaming for many people like me. Today, I look back on the heyday of properties like Call of Duty with regret for not truly appreciating the time I grew up in. From Call of Duty 4 all the way to Black Ops 3, I formed distinct memories and genuine friendships that last to this day, thanks to the connections party chats offered.

I was listening to the Summer Game Fest episode of the CCP (The Couch Company Podcast, not the Chinese Communist Party), our favorite gaming hosts brought up rightful concern over the future of gaming, from the uncertainty of consoles to lackluster properties from developers, the concern is more than warranted. As a casual gamer purchasing parts for my first PC, as someone younger, and, lastly, a nerd like so many of us, I finally heard these concerns from intelligent people who want the golden age we have all lived through not to end. Which begs the question, how did we get here, and where are we going?

We all witnessed the console wars at their peak, the days of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. As a lifelong PlayStation user, even I can acknowledge the Xbox 360’s superiority at the time, and I have watched both platforms' victories and defeats over the last 20 years. The sad truth is that the consoles are back to the same problems they began with: “The Confused Identity Problem”. Xbox had the bull by the horns up until the release of the Xbox One. Since their creator, Microsoft, is a tech giant and not a company whose main focus is gaming, they went heavy on the Xbox One, making it an overall entertainment system rather than just a great gaming platform. This led to the adoption of a more Windows-based operating system and aesthetic, which allowed the PlayStation 4 to take the throne as the leading pure gaming console. Sony also capitalized on their highly loved exclusives and, by all evidence, is still riding on them today. Throughout this time, we have had two additional consoles from Xbox (the Series X and S) and PlayStation, adopting an Apple-like model with the release of Pro models (the PS4 Pro and PS5 Pro). With all these consoles, we saw marginal increments of performance increases and some of the same exclusives we know and love, with a few new ones as well. All during this time, the Sleeping Giant of PC gaming was taking its greatest strides.

As I mentioned earlier, I’m a casual gamer entering the PC space. I don’t even have a PC yet, and I’m already a full-blown nerd when it comes to the performance I want, the trade-offs of certain parts for longevity, and the price tag associated with having a good casual experience today. My profession is Finance, and just like watching the markets, keeping an eye on inflation, witnessing geopolitical landscapes that affect the U.S. economy, I see the writing on the wall. Unfortunately, the writing I’m seeing says consoles will cost more than $1,000 in the near future. In my opinion, this is inevitable. The average cost of a cell phone is over $1,000, and that’s thanks to Apple’s release of the iPhone X in 2017. This $1,000+ price tag has been the case for flagship phones ever since. But why must this happen to consoles? The answer is simply to keep up with performance. Today, multiplayer games no longer have dedicated servers for console players. Instead, they use shared servers with PC gamers, which means my sub-60-frame performance cannot keep up with the 200-plus-frame performance of PC elites. This may sound like whining about poor performance; however, it has completely changed the play and the competitiveness for average players simply trying to enjoy themselves.

Which brings me all the way back to “The Confused Identity Problem” that consoles are facing today. Xbox has been the only giant to acknowledge this problem through its HELIX Project. An Xbox that is conjoined with PC performance. Xbox has also taken steps beyond a new console, attempting to join the Steam marketplace with the console experience. This makes me cry on the inside as a lifelong PlayStation user. Part of the reason PCs even became an option for me is simply that there are many indie titles I miss out on as a console-only gamer. It’s painful to wait a few times a year for a new cross-platform title to release on consoles, which, more often than not, are buggy when it comes to cross-platform connectivity. John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando is a perfect example of this problem I’m talking about. With this struggle, PlayStation’s answer to these problems seems to be to rely on exclusives, and even as a casual gamer, that is not enough for me.

The final problem that gamers face in the future is not the cost of gaming or the lack of platforms and titles available to all, but ourselves. Among the younger generation of gamers, attention spans have been eroded by the inundation of social media and clip consumption, which means they are getting sick and tired of games that do not keep offering more content for the sake of replayability. These same gamers are also the ones who are most vocal in their criticism of game development choices, especially when it comes to the risks actually taken. Because of this, developers are rightfully hesitant to take those chances and attempt to make new titles or games for a more niche market. Hopefully, as time goes on, this problem will ease as younger gamers mature, becoming adults who will now have to rely on their own money to purchase such products. Given that the majority of gamers are already in their late 20s and early 30s, I think this is an overlooked detail. Companies need to realize that the younger generation that makes all the noise is not the one feeding their bottom line. Which is why, for those of us who actually love and appreciate games, we need to make the most of what we have and what we will get in the future. All this to say that PC players have invested thousands of dollars in a superior gaming experience that has become the norm. Despite all these issues, we do live in a time when gamers can help reshape the industry. Hopefully, the future for us is filled with more risk and innovation that will result in better gaming experiences for casual and hobby gamers alike.

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This month, I’m doing a little something in the spirit of Mother’s Day. You’ll know it when you see it.

Mixtape

Mixtape transported me back to my middle school graduation by the time the credits rolled. Remembering all my friends, and how the relationships I’d grown over nine years were being scattered for high school, I was truly unprepared for how this game would hit me.

The setting is a little retro, even at my advanced age — when it was going out, I was being born — but the heart of it, the underlying tone and feelings, I think, transcend a specific decade. The themes of friendship, loss, change, and the unknown… these are universal.

While it’s basically a walking sim, I found that the light gameplay actually helped tell the story exactly as intended. Going into Mixtape as a narrative experience or movie that you occasionally progress manually will get you the most mileage.

View on Steam →

Sally’s Score: 0/10 — Drinking, drugs, rebellion, and non-Christian music?! This is setting such a bad example.

Forza Horizon 6

Casually driving around Japan, collecting things, was the perfect way for me to catch up on podcasts, and I loved it. Beyond that, grouping up with Jon to form a posse and race around felt thrilling and almost seamless. This is a game that will stay installed for the rest of the year to dip in and out of.

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Sally’s Score: 4/10 — Dangerous street racers are not the crowd you want to be around. The scenery is pretty, but it’s very loud.

LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight

In many ways, this game felt like it was made specifically for me; the number of references, nods, and winks felt staggering at times and kept my childhood top of mind. While maybe not as deep as the Arkham games it draws from, I can honestly say this is my favorite Lego game to date (Skywalker a close second). My main critique is that, while this is an excellent exploration of Batman’s legacy, it sticks to well-trodden alleys without going anywhere else. But hey, it’s right there in the title — that’s probably on me for expecting a little more.

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Sally’s Score: 6/10 — The little Legos are cute. Does it have to be so violent? Your father said to tell you that Legos are too expensive.

Oh, you’re actually interested in the audiobooks?! You can find it here.

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Developer: CAPCOM Co., Ltd.
Release Date: April 17, 2026
Reviewed On: PC

Review

A full review can be found in this episode of the podcast (49:33):

✅ Pros

• Crisp visuals powered by the RE Engine.

• Hacking mechanic is deep, unique, and satisfying.

• Smart enemy pairings keep encounters fresh.

• Weapons are genuinely distinct.

• Collectibles always feel meaningful and rewarding.

❌ Cons

• Thin, predictable story with a bland protagonist.

• Slight pacing issues that can feel like padding.

• Plays it safe, ignoring the evolution of modern game design.

Final Score: 84 (Silver)

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Developer: Christoffer Bodegård
Release Date: March 3, 2026
Reviewed On: PC

Review

A full review can be found in this episode of the podcast:

✅ Pros

• Deep worldbuilding and lore

• Faithful and creative D&D-inspired systems

• Funny, sharp, and engaging dialogue writing

• Distinctive character design and portraits

❌ Cons

• Overwhelming lore dumps

• Confusing onboarding with little guidance

• Weak quest tracking and direction

• Frustrating map and navigation system

Final Score: 85 (Silver)

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MOUSE: P.I. For Hire

Probably not a hot take, but this game wants to be Cuphead so badly. I think there’s even an argument that it has the style and setting to pull it off (along with a fantastic—albeit expected—voice performance from Troy Baker). I’m just not convinced a boomer-shooter was the right genre. You can argue that it’s following the 2D sprites of something like the original Doom, but the overall experience felt handcuffed by that choice. Overall, I didn’t hate my time playing; it just didn’t grab me as I had hoped.

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Pragmata

I knew it was going to hit pretty close to home when a daughter-figure was riding on my back for the better part of 12 hours, quipping and being all cute, reminding me of my own perfect angel. What I wasn’t ready for was how plain fun the combat is. It’s been said that this hits the “Xbox 360” vibes in a great way, and honestly, I can’t think of a better likeness. While the story might not be the strongest—although I really clicked with the ending—the characters are likable, and it’s the very definition of a video game. (I was going to put “ass” somewhere in that, but I couldn’t figure out where. Video-ass video game? I dunno.)

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Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred

For the record, Lord of Hatred released on the 28th of this month, and I had every intention of saving this entry for May. That… didn’t happen. Please understand that I’m not proud to admit that I spent more time playing this over the last couple of days than just about everything else on this list combined. Despite being fuzzy on what’s new in the expansion versus seasonal improvements, I’m happy that after taking some time off, this feels like a very fresh and polished endgame—one that I honestly can’t put down. For me, I think it’s finally safe to say they’re back to the same level as Diablo III.

While I’ll likely review this officially on the podcast in the coming weeks, overall, I’d rate the campaign as “fine” to “good,” and I largely enjoyed the areas and story more than Vessel of Hatred. I spent my initial time playing the Paladin class, and while I could see some fun late-game builds, I’m kicking myself for not trying the Warlock instead. That being said, I got sucked back into Whirlwind Barbarian, and… look, it’s a whole thing. I’ve been playing this game a lot.

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🕹️ Retro Roundup

If you’ve been following my retro game obsession on the podcast, April marks the first official month of me going through a very curated list of Game Boy Advance games. My goal isn’t necessarily to beat each of them, but to sample what many consider a GOATed library. After a deep dive into the pits of Reddit and other random corners of the internet, I feel the 200-odd titles on my curated list are the best of the best, and I’m excited to begin this journey!

Gradius Galaxies

If I had started my GBA project in any prior year, there’s a very good chance I would’ve just ended it right here with Gradius Galaxies. I cannot overstate how inferior I felt, flying-dodging ineffectively and seeing the dreaded “Game Over” screen again and again. Yet as luck would have it, 2026 Tyler is a glutton for punishment, and while frustrating at times, I stuck it out long enough to see the hook. (Special shoutout to seeing some of Galaxies’ DNA—specifically the upgrade system—make its way into the much more modern Sektori.) Let me be clear, I’m still whatever is lower than trash at this game, but I appreciate its unapologetic “get better” theme.

Developed by Mobile21 and published by Konami, Gradius Galaxies was released in North America on November 30, 2001.

Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire

It pained me to learn this game existed. I loved the original Pokémon Pinball for the Game Boy Color—rumble motor and all—but I always thought it was just a weird little spinoff. Learning that Nintendo not only produced a sequel but that it was better in just about every way made me both extremely happy and extremely sad that I waited two decades to play it. I don’t know why Pokémon was the brand that got me into its pinball (maybe it’s just simpler and for babies), but learning the two tables and fighting my past scores became a nightly routine.

Developed by Jupiter and published by Nintendo, Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire was released in North America on August 25, 2003.

Super Monkey Ball Jr.

The good news is that while I thought this game played like absolute garbage, it was just the underpowered device I was playing it on. Turns out Super Monkey Ball Jr. pushed the GBA to its limits (I love learning the history of this stuff). Bad news is that I might be worse at this than at Gradius. I can see why this game was a marvel at the time, but I’ll be honest, I put this one down after the first hour.

Developed by Realism and published by THQ, Super Monkey Ball Jr. was released in North America on November 20, 2002.

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Developer(s): Capcom Co., Ltd.
Release Date: February 26, 2026
Reviewed On: PC

Review

A full review can be found in podcast Episode 222.

✅ Pros

• First-person Grace sections are engaging and immersive.

• Strong gameplay loop with satisfying combat, upgrades, and exploration.

• A good mix of horror and action keeps the experience exciting.

• Visually stunning with excellent lighting, character models, and performance.

❌ Cons

• Feels disjointed, like two separate Resident Evil games stitched together.

• One-liners can be hit-or-miss.

• Safe, iterative design that fails to significantly evolve the series.

Final Score: 86 (Gold)