After releasing Resident Evil Village on iPhone 15 Pro and supported iPad models a few months ago, Capcom has released the superlative Resident Evil 4 Remake (Free) on not only iOS and iPadOS, but also macOS as a universal release for Apple platforms. Thanks to early access from Capcom, I played Resident Evil 4 Remake on my iPhone 15 Pro and MacBook Air (M1) pre-release, and have since tried the public build on the same devices in addition to testing it out on iPad Pro (M1). This Resident Evil 4 Remake iPhone 15 Pro review will focus on the port, features, and whether it is worth your time right now.

Having already covered Resident Evil 4 Remake on Steam Deck and its DLC, I will not waste too much time discussing the game itself. After Capcom’s superb Resident Evil 2 Remake, many were disappointed in Resident Evil 3 Remake. Having never played the originals, I loved both of them, and my only complaint with Resident Evil 3 Remake is that it shouldn’t have been a full priced game. Resident Evil 4 is a legendary game that changed the industry, so remaking it was risky for Capcom. Thankfully, the developer and publisher pulled it off in spades delivering the best version of Resident Evil 4 by far. Resident Evil 4 Remake debuted on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, and PC. It had not been ported to anything else since, until this release on Apple platforms. I expected this port to be similar to Resident Evil Village on iPhone 15 Pro, but it is different in quite a few ways.

On first launching Resident Evil 4 Remake, you’re prompted to download about 12GB of data. If you don’t download this, the game closes. After this required download, you can sample the opening of the game for free. If you do end up buying the one time unlock for the full game or any DLC, there’s an additional download required. The final install size with everything downloaded and updated is about 31.3GB on iPhone 15 Pro. For comparison, the macOS version on my MacBook Air is about 65GB, the Steam Deck version is 69GB, and the PS5 version is about 78GB with all DLC installed. The screenshot below is with the DLC filter enabled.

On the graphics side, Resident Evil 4 Remake on iOS, does not let you adjust anything of note barring HDR and some post-processing like lens flare and distortion. The graphics options on iPhone 15 Pro like in Resident Evil Village are absent here. While I initially was disappointed, Capcom has optimized this better, but it still isn’t perfect in many ways. On the PC version, there’s a tab in between Display and Language to adjust graphics. This is absent on iPhone 15 Pro and iPad version. I was curious to see if setting things low and trying out different upscaling would let me try out different frame rate targets, but it seems like you can’t right now. Performance targets 30fps, and it has some inconsistent frame pacing. It isn’t unplayable though. Barring some hair, it looks very good on the phone’s screen with HDR enabled. I hope a future update allows uncapping the frame rate and adds some settings as an advanced option to see how much you can push the game.

When it comes to the controls, the same issues as with Resident Evil Village apply here. I noticed Resident Evil 4 Remake defaults to showing PlayStation button prompts with the touchscreen controls and when an external controller is used. This is like the PC version. You can change it to display Xbox button prompts in the settings. One disappointing aspect is Capcom didn’t work on adding a similar haptic feedback or responsive vibrations like in the PS5 version on the iPhone 15 Pro version when using the DualSense controller. There is vibration, but it falls short of how awesome the experience is on PS5.

A lot has been said online for Resident Evil 4 Remake costing “$60″ on mobile. The horror. I’m going to give some context to the pros and cons of this price. Capcom so far, has not been great at maintaining its older premium games on mobile. Some games have been broken until years later when they get fixed. While it is likely these new Resident Evil ports will be supported for a bit at least given Apple’s heavy advertising, I will not forgive Capcom for Monster Hunter Freedom Unite on iOS going away. So far, I can see hesitation in supporting these releases. Back to the actual price of the full game unlock and DLC, Capcom is matching the current console and PC including discounts by offering a launch price for mobile bringing it down to $29.99 for a limited time. Over the years, we’ve seen some games hit premium prices or match other platforms, and I’m confident in saying Resident Evil 4 Remake is easily worth the asking price given its port compared to something like Civilization VI.

Since Resident Evil 4 Remake is a universal purchase supporting iPadOS, iOS, and macOS, it includes the ability to upload and download your data from iCloud Drive in the server tab of the menu. This didn’t seem to be a seamless sync like we have in Apple Arcade games. Also, while I could upload without issues from iPhone 15 Pro, macOS uploading never worked regardless of the three networks I tried. The fact that this purchase includes all three versions, and the game quality being a lot better than Resident Evil Village makes this an easier game to recommend on Apple systems.

Resident Evil 4 Remake is a game you will likely replay. These remakes are great to replay, and it is one of the big reasons I try to keep both Resident Evil 2 Remake and Resident Evil 4 Remake installed on my consoles. I just wish Capcom put in more effort into the touchscreen controls. A good recent example is Hitman: Blood Money which has an amazing conversion on mobile. Not only does it support controllers as you’d expect, but it also has superb touch controls and keyboard & mouse support. Resident Evil 4 Remake’s touch implementation leaves a lot to be desired.

In its current state, Resident Evil 4 Remake is an easy recommendation if you have a controller despite the visual cutbacks. The Backbone One or a DualSense controller for iPad and macOS are basically essential. Think of this like those Steam releases that have “controller required”. Those don’t let you use keyboard and mouse, the default input options on PC, but force you to use a controller. Resident Evil 4 Remake on iOS does not force a controller with touchscreen controls available, but I would not recommend them right now. Capcom has done a fantastic job so far in bringing this masterpiece, and definitive version of Resident Evil 4, to Apple devices. I hope we see more RE Engine games arrive in the future, including Resident Evil 2 Remake and Resident Evil 3 Remake.

Just like Resident Evil Village, I recommend downloading Resident Evil 4 Remake for free if you have a supported device to see how you find it. I love this remake with its Separate Ways expansions, and it has been amazing re-experiencing it all on iPhone 15 Pro and also on iPad Pro despite the few performance issues. While the lack of graphics options is disappointing, this release feels a lot more optimized for the devices it supports than Resident Evil Village, and I hope to see more improvements over time in updates. I’m glad to see Capcom continue the tradition of bringing Resident Evil 4 Remake, like the original game, to as many platforms as possible.

Resident Evil 4 Remake iPhone 15 Pro Review Score: 4.5/5

Update: This review has been updated on January 5th, 2024 with the final score and thoughts after recently trying it on iPad M1 as well.

I think Hamster and SNK might be speedrunning these now. Another week has passed, and we’ve got another ACA NEOGEO release that essentially replaces an existing app. That’s all well and good, since the older versions of these apps are over a decade old. They need to either be overhauled or replaced, and in light of pretty much the entire first-party library of the NEOGEO being released through the brand-consistent ACA NEOGEO line, it’s not surprising SNK has opted for the latter choice. I do wish the old apps would be removed from sale when this happens, but what can you do? The latest game to get the treatment is Metal Slug 2 ACA NEOGEO ($3.99), the first sequel in the popular run-and-gun franchise.

If you’ve read any of my recent reviews of games that follow in this pattern, you can skip ahead to the next paragraph. This is just my general recommendation that you avoid picking up Dotemu’s conversion of Metal Slug 2 that at the time of this writing remains on the store. Yes, it’s a dollar cheaper. But it’s only a dollar, and I think the differences here more than make up for that extra buck you spend. This new version is not only likely to have a far longer future, but also is designed for modern devices and their displays, which are things we cannot say for the older version. You get more options and extra features with the new version, and greater compatibility with external controllers. Spend that extra dollar, you deserve the treat.

Metal Slug was likely a pretty big surprise to SNK when it released back in 1996. Nazca Corporation, the developer behind the game, was a team formed by ex-Irem employees who had left the company to pursue their ambitions. This was a seasoned bunch, having worked together on games at Irem such as Air Duel, Undercover Cops, GunForce II, and perhaps most famously, In The Hunt. Nevertheless, its first efforts as Nazca Corporation proper went far beyond most expectations. A pair of NEOGEO titles, published by SNK themselves: NEO Turf Masters and Metal Slug. The former is one of the finest arcade-style golfing games ever made, and the latter? Well, it soon became a staple of every NEOGEO MVS around.

SNK made what was for this time in its history a rare wise business decision: it bought Nazca Corporation lock-stock. You don’t want to lose talent like that. Its first mission as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company was to follow up on the ultra-hot Metal Slug, a mission that it would more or less carry out for the rest of its unexpectedly short lifespan. But how can you top something as wild as Metal Slug without losing what brought people to the game in the first place?

Metal Slug 2 offers the same number of stages, with six in total. The game goes a bit more over the top with its themes than the first game, and there’s more variety in general. The playable roster has doubled with the additions of Fio and Eri. They play the same as the guys, but it’s nice to have the choice. There are a few new weapons, and one of the returning ones has been upgraded. The titular Metal Slug vehicles also see their selection expanded, with the SV-Camel, Slugnoid, and Slug Flyer showing up in set places during the game. The original SV-001 tank is here too, of course. There are some other fun extra bits in here too, like how your character can be turned into a mummy or how one of the prisoners will follow you around throwing fireballs after you save him.

All of this ambition comes at a cost, however. Metal Slug 2 is notorious for the severity of its slowdown when the action picks up. And pals, the action picks up often. It’s so bad that Nazca actually opted to revisit the game the following year, using the improvements of the engine of the then-in-development Metal Slug 3 to remove many of the technical issues plaguing the game. The team also added some new goodies in while they were at it, and that revised version became Metal Slug X. That is not this game, but I’m sure we’ll see it soon. This game is as it ever was, and that means you’re going to be running, jumping, and shooting through some molasses at times. History isn’t always pretty.

I think to a great degree Metal Slug X negates this game, but for the serious Metal Slug fan I think the differences can be interesting enough to make Metal Slug 2 worth keeping around. If you’re not into that kind of hair-splitting or aren’t planning to catch them all, you might just want to be patient and wait for Metal Slug X‘s ACA NEOGEO version. I imagine it will come in a matter of weeks, simply because Hamster and SNK don’t have too many other games to touch on at this point. From a gameplay perspective Metal Slug 2 loses to Metal Slug X in every way. On its own merits, it’s quite a lot of fun despite the issues. And hey, it’s not likely you’re going to have a second player on screen gumming things up even worse.

Yes, I have to bang my usual drums here. First up, playing this game with touch controls is not ideal. It can be done, and you’ve got unlimited credits to work with here so it doesn’t particularly matter if you keep on dying. But a challenging game like this really works best if you can use an external controller to play. If you have one, this is just as fun to blast your way through as it is on any other platform. You’ll probably have to go it alone, because multiplayer requires external controllers and a display you feel comfortable hunkering down around. Well, you could do a lot worse on iOS even with all this baggage in tow.

You get the usual ACA NEOGEO options here. Game settings, control mapping, virtual control adjustments, audio and video options, and so on. You can play the Japanese version with all the blood spurts or the Overseas version with all the sweat spurts, and you also get the usual Score Attack and timed Caravan modes. Those extra modes are pretty fun here, especially the Score Attack. This is a game you can get through on one credit if you practice enough, and it’s a good challenge to see how far you can go while accumulating the most points possible. You get your online leaderboards as well, allowing you to compare your feats with those of other players. The extras supplement the game well, even if the necessary sacrifices of the mobile format don’t.

Look, if you’re going to buy Metal Slug 2 on mobile, this ACA NEOGEO release is the one you want. And if you’re trying to collect all the Metal Slug games or even all of the Arcade Archives releases, don’t let me stop you. But even setting aside the usual issues with Metal Slug games on mobile, I have to recommend the average player simply wait for Metal Slug X to get a rerelease. It’s everything this game is and more, with the improvement of the egregious slowdown being no small favor. A good game, but one made largely redundant by another entry that will be here soon.

It seems fairly clear by now that SNK and Hamster are going to re-issue new Arcade Archives versions of all of its decade-old Dotemu-developed NEOGEO mobile ports, and now it’s time for The King of Fighters ’97 to take its turn. KOF ’97 ACA NEOGEO ($3.99) is a ticket to a fully updated and option-rich take on one of the most popular games in SNK’s popular The King of Fighters series, and it will only cost you sixteen quarters to take the ride. I’m not even going to pose the question of whether or not this is better than the old app. We’ve done that dance enough times now. Let’s just roll on in to the review, shall we?

To get the usual talk out of the way, let’s address the old app. It’s still on the App Store and still technically works, after all. Heck, it was just updated a year ago to be compatible with iOS 14. That doesn’t mean it’s a great experience on modern devices, though. Dotemu’s The King of Fighters ’97 ($2.99) came out more than ten years ago, and for its time and place it was a great port of the game. It played as well as it could, the emulation was sound, it had support for the kinds of external controllers we had at the time, and offered local wireless multiplayer support. It wasn’t exactly rolling in options, but it was more than good enough. Time has taken its toll, however. The biggest issue these days is that the virtual buttons didn’t grow along with the displays of devices, and it’s even tougher than usual to play on tiny buttons. I can’t recommend the Dotemu version anymore, I don’t think SNK should be selling two versions at the same time, and I expect the publisher to deprecate it sooner or later. Get the new one.

Anyway, The King of Fighters ’97. It came out in 1997 on the NEOGEO, so the title of this app certainly checks out. It was the fourth game in the series that had by this point become SNK’s most reliable franchise, and brought the Orochi Saga story arc to its close. In terms of gameplay, it introduced a system where you could choose between two playing styles before picking your team. The Advanced Mode followed in the footsteps of The King of Fighters ’96, albeit with some tweaks, while the Extra Mode takes after The King of Fighters ’94 and ’95. This addition not only did a great job of tying all of the previous games together, but also gave players greater customization and variety in how they played the game.

In terms of character selection, six characters from the previous game were dropped. Kasumi Todoh, Mature, Vice, Geese Howard, Wolfgang Krauser, and Mr. Big all hit the benches for story reasons. Chizuru Kagura moves from the sub-boss position into the regular playable roster, while fan favorites Blue Mary and Ryuji Yamazaki from the Fatal Fury series join Billy Kane to form a new team. Yashiro Nanakase, Chris, and Shermie are fully new faces and end up serving an important story role. Otherwise, the roster carries over. Popular characters like Terry Bogard, Kyo Kusanagi, Iori Yagami, Mai Shiranui, and Athena Asamiya are all here along with many others. Plenty of great characters to learn to use, like any game in this series.

The usual ACA NEOGEO gripes with fighting games in particular apply here. First, it can be really cumbersome trying to make some of the commands work with the virtual controls. There are no assists here, unlike the Dotemu version, so if you don’t have an external controller of some kind you’re just going to have to make the best of it. It’s also very difficult to get multiplayer going, as you’ll need a couple of external controllers and a display you’re comfortable rubbing elbows around. In other words, you’re probably going to be spending most of your time playing alone. The story here is certainly worth going through though, and you have plenty of options to tweak to give yourself as much of an edge against the rude CPU as possible.

If you don’t mind the multiplayer being hard to get at and have an external controller, this is a great experience. Just like playing the Arcade Archives release on any other device, but with a few bucks more in your pocket. You get the usual extra modes here, and they’re alright to mess around with. You can also choose between the Japanese and Overseas versions of the game, which is good if you enjoy blood and bounce, as the kids say. In terms of options, you can adjust the difficulty, remap buttons, tweak video and sound settings, and customize the virtual pad to your liking. Online leaderboards are also here, as usual. I don’t typically think of fighters as games to compete on leaderboards with, but if you get into that kind of thing, it’s here.

The King of Fighters ’97 is a terrific fighting game and another of the many feathers in SNK’s hat in this genre. If you have an external controller and plan to play solo, it’s easily worth picking up. Those stuck with touch controls will want to carefully consider what they are really looking for out of this kind of thing, but I’m just repeating myself here from prior reviews. Hamster has done a really good job with this release, also as usual, and I think it’s only a better set of multiplayer options away from being the best possible mobile port it could be.

When Cygames announced Granblue Fantasy Versus, a fighting game developed with Arc System Works for PS4 and PC, I was excited even as someone who didn’t play Granblue Fantasy on mobile back then. I trust Arc System Works fighters, and Granblue Fantasy Versus ended up becoming a fantastic game held back by its online. It was accessible, gorgeous, and packed with single player content. It also excelled in its music and aesthetic. When Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising was announced, it seemed to be addressing all complaints I had with the original. I’ve been playing Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising on Steam Deck and PS5 for over a week now, and it is fantastic in just about every way.

If you’ve already played Granblue Fantasy Versus, Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising feels like a blend of an enhanced re-release and a sequel combined. In Guilty Gear terms, to me this feels like going from Xrd Sign to Xrd Rev 2 directly. There are visual upgrades, gameplay enhancements, new characters, story content, and a ton of modes offline and online. Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising also includes the full story from the original game so this is the version to get if you’re new to the series.

On the single player side of things Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising includes an arcade mode, versus mode, training mode (with a lot of useful data options in the UI), story mode (including the original game’s story), replay mode, journal (gallery), and a figure studio letting you pose specific characters for screenshots in different situations. The arcade mode also has its own requirements to unlock another path which I will not spoil here.

Before playing the second open beta to test the online on PS5, I wasn’t sure how different Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising’s gameplay would feel. I’m glad the team added enough to make things fresh with the Brave Point system for the Raging Strike and Brave Counter mechanics, and how it makes you strategize on the fly with its risk system. This is all complemented by the meter changes and dash system as well. It really feels like Arc System Works managed to get everything they could to Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising. After spending a week playing Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising, I tried playing Granblue Fantasy Versus with a friend. It was quite a difference.

I’ve now tested the online in the final build on both PS5 and Steam Deck for a few days. Everything is holding up well, and the only issues I’ve had, are to do with some lobby instability against a handful of fights out of the many I’ve played so far. There are no Mortal Kombat 1-like high ping issues, or anything. The online feels great, and I’ve even tested against friends and randoms in different countries over a wired connection on Steam Deck. The Grand Bruise Legends mode is a lovely blend of Fall Guys-style gameplay with Granblue, and it has its own unlock system. Barring that, you can create a lobby or opt to do ranked/casual matches. You can also create your own room to invite friends and more. My one complaint is the lobbies have 30fps movement that doesn’t feel good at all. I hope this can be fixed for PS5 and PC.

Granblue Fantasy Versus was already a gorgeous game, but the developers have outdone themselves with Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising. I adore how it looks and feels to play. The skill animations, character designs, cut-scenes, and stages look fantastic. It also runs really well on Steam Deck and PS5. Revisiting the original game alongside this one really shows how polished Rising feels. It isn’t a huge change, but has improvements in many areas.

I was also glad to see this release continue to offer an English dub option. I played both English and Japanese voiceover options equally in the original, and stuck to English so far. The new character voices are at par with the rest of the characters. This is definitely one of the better dubs in a Japanese fighting game. Barring the voices, Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising continues to have amazing music. Despite a lot of older songs, I love the soundtrack. The one oddity that I kind of expected, is the Uma Musume partner characters like Gold Ship who I immediately unlocked when servers went live, do not have dubs. I was curious if Cygames would dub them, but right now, it seems like there is no dub for the Uma Musume partner characters. Also make sure you claim the rewards so you can unlock Gold Ship immediately like I did. She’s beyond amazing with her dialogue here.

Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising’s PC graphics options include resolution (864×486 to 1440p for my monitor), display mode (fullscreen, borderless, windowed), v-sync, graphics quality presets, resolution scaling (20-100), anti-aliasing quality, post-processing quality, texture quality, shadow quality, and VFX quality. These quality settings go: low, mid, high, and highest. You can also use the optimize display settings option for the game to auto detect for your PC or Steam Deck.

On Steam Deck, Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising has no issues running and looks great in every mode I could test barring the pre-rendered cut-scenes in story mode. I tested these on default Proton, Proton Experimental (bleeding edge), and 3 versions of GE including 8-25 with no luck. GE gets them to display a static image at least, while the others show a color bar pattern. Barring that issue, it plays flawlessly, and I even used my Hori Fighting Stick Alpha and Razer Kitsune on it wired. On the visual side, if you play at 720p, everything at high will result in no performance issues. I forced 1080p and downsampled, and saw some dips in performance during special moves only. The actual gameplay had no issues in my testing, but I will be doing more testing on this front through the week. It feels like it was made taking into account handheld PCs, and I hope the cut-scenes can be fixed in updates or by Valve.

If you own a PS5 and Steam Deck, having played it on both, Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising is better on PS5 visually and has faster load times. Barring that, the experience holds up brilliantly on the small Steam Deck screen, and this setup is great for portable play with or without an arcade controller. I got the original Granblue Fantasy Versus on both PS4 and Steam, and would do the same here given the option. Since there’s a free version, I’d recommend trying it out on your PC and PS5 to see where you find it better. Since the game has crossplay, there’s no real disadvantage to the online population.

Having now seen the launch day DLC available, I’d recommend buying the Deluxe Edition if you want to buy the full game. Getting the standard edition now and then upgrading will cost a lot more. I know some publishers encourage you to buy more expensive editions rather than standard and then upgrading, but this price difference is much higher than I’ve seen with other fighting game publishers.

Having now tested the netcode and multiplayer modes on Steam Deck, Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising is chock full of amazing gameplay, characters, music, and a robust online experience. This feels like the complete package right from the get go, and is a great new option for any newcomer to fighting games with its low barrier of entry. If you aren’t sure if Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising is for you, give the free version a shot. In its current state, I can see myself playing this for a long time on Steam Deck and PS5. Cygames and Arc System Worked nailed everything I had hoped for here, and delivered one of the best fighting game day one releases in years.

Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising Steam Deck review score: 5/5

Update: This review has been updated to reflect the online experience on Steam Deck.

As usual, you can read all our past and future Steam Deck coverage here. If you have any feedback for this feature or what else you’d like to see us do around the Steam Deck, let us know in the comments below. I hope you all have a great day, and thanks for reading.

The last two months have been so busy that I’ve not been able to make time to play many games until recently. There are still new games coming out even as we head closer to the holidays, but I finally managed to play Playism and Lizardry’s recent adventure game Refind Self: The Personality Test Game ($3.99). Before I saw the screenshots or the trailer, I thought the name would mean this is one of those games where you just answer some questions to get a result and share it. I was wrong, and Refind Self: The Personality Test Game ended up being one of the nicest surprises of the year so far.

Lizardry developed 7 Days to End With You which was self-published on mobile, and I had my eye on that thanks to its aesthetic. When I got to know Lizardry was behind Refind Self: The Personality Test Game, I expected good art, and it delivered with its aesthetic and music. Adventure games live and die by their story, and I found the smart storytelling and structure here great, but the characters and introspection aspects really elevated it to something special.

Once you get past the name, Refind Self: The Personality Test Game begins with a grave. You control an android near the grave which happens to be of the doctor who created you. You now have the freedom to do anything or go anywhere more or less. As you make decisions including small ones like how long you sit on a bench all contribute to your personality which is being analyzed. Despite the name and structure, you’re playing this to discover the narrative and secrets more than finding your own personality.

Barring the decisions you make in dialogue or for how you want to spend the limited time you have, you get to see a glimpse of your personality and a part of the overall story. The limited time depends on the analysis happening with each decision you make while playing. A single playthrough will take about an hour or a bit more, but you can’t see everything Refind Self: The Personality Test Game has to offer without at least three playthroughs. Once it is all complete, you get to share your ID with others. It is interesting seeing how others responded to specific things in-game as well.

Despite the simple gameplay, I found myself enamored with the world here, and ended up loving the characters and mini-games quite a bit. Lizardry is definitely worth paying attention to for all future projects. I hope each game tries something different like this one did with its structure. The only aspect some might take issue with, is the length. I have no problem with the asking price of $3.99 for a three or four hour long experience, but keep that in mind before grabbing it if you were hoping for something longer.

While I like the pixel art and character designs a lot, I want to give a special mention to the soundtrack. It was another lovely surprise with how much it manages to accomplish in elevating the narrative moments and mini-games. I haven’t seen it up on streaming, but it is available on Steam here.

I’ve been playing Refind Self: The Personality Test Game on both iOS and Steam Deck. While it looks and runs fine on Steam Deck, it has no native controller support. To play it here, I’d recommend using the controller layout that lets you use the left stick to simulate WASD and then using the touch screen for click interactions. Without that, grab an external mouse if you want to play it. On iPhone 15 Pro and iPad Pro, there is no controller support, but I had no issues with Refind Self: The Personality Test Game barring some slight scrolling jitter in parts. It feels great on touch. It also looks great and loads quickly on my devices. If you have the option, play it on iOS or PC with a mouse over Steam Deck right now. Hopefully we get proper controller support in an update on both Steam Deck and iOS.

If you enjoy touching stories and adventure games with a focus on characters and introspection, you will love Refind Self: The Personality Test Game. I think many folks will skip it thinking it is one of those throwaway test-style games, but I ended up enjoying my time with it a lot across iOS and Steam Deck. I can’t wait to see what Lizardry does next, and look forward to seeing results from more people when they play Refind Self: The Personality Test Game.

Well, here we go again. The latest addition to SNK and Hamster’s mobile Arcade Archives line is none other than Metal Slug ACA NEOGEO ($3.99), a second take on a game we got a mobile version of a decade back from Dotemu. That was a fine version for its era, albeit with all of the problems one would expect from trying to convert a run-and-gun action game from sticks and buttons to touch. Time has marched on, however. Despite some updates over the years to keep the game running, there are a lot of issues with it in the current year. Is that enough to merit buying the game again if you already own it? Should those who have neither version spend the extra buck for the new one? Come on in and find out the obvious answer.

So again I do want to clarify that Dotemu’s Metal Slug 1 ($2.99) was a perfectly fine version for its time. Things were very different in the mobile scene back in 2013 when that game was first released on mobile, especially with regards to screen sizes and aspect ratios. While the app saw occasional updates to maintain compatibility with various versions of iOS, some aspects didn’t get much in the way of reworking. One of the biggest problems with these older Dotemu NEOGEO ports is that the touch screen buttons are too small for modern displays, even at their largest setting in the options. That is also the case here, and it makes the old version very hard to play. You can use an external controller, but compatibility is a bit spotty. There are also a few minor emulation issues.

I’m repeating myself here from other recent reviews, but despite the slightly cheaper price I would caution strongly against buying the older version over the ACA NEOGEO one. I don’t even think SNK should still be selling that version now that this one exists. I doubt it will ever get the necessary updates to make it as playable as it used to be, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets retired in the near future. The ACA NEOGEO version isn’t exactly a treat to play with touch controls either, but it’s a lot more comfortable. It also offers many more options and modes, which I think makes it the one to pick all-around. Even if you’re using an external controller, you’ll find the ACA NEOGEO version runs and plays better.

As to the game itself, Metal Slug probably doesn’t need too much introduction if you’re interested enough in NEOGEO games to be reading this review. If SNK’s home/arcade console system is known for one thing, it’s The King of Fighters. But if it’s known for two things, the second one is Metal Slug. Developed by ex-Irem folks at Nazca Corporation, this run-and-gun action game is among the very finest the genre has to offer. It’s not hard to see why it spawned such a long-running and popular series. The graphics are incredibly detailed and lavishly animated, the gameplay is excellent, the pace of the game is zippy, the vehicles are exciting to use, the bosses are ridiculous, and it’s as much fun to play alone as it is with a friend. It’s also silly without pushing things too far, which is welcome in a genre that tends to tilt one way or the other when it comes to humor.

That said, the level of challenge and the fact that you need to pull off some wild moves make this ill-suited for touch controls, though in this ACA NEOGEO version you have access to an infinite number of credits to finish the game with. If you’re going to play the game seriously, you’ll probably want to make use of an external controller. It plays great that way, and it makes this version perhaps the best, most affordable official way to play Metal Slug. Throw in the usual extra modes, which work out quite well for this sort of game, and you have a really nice package here. Will the online leaderboards be populated? You can be part of the solution to that one, my friends.

The Dotemu version of the game had a handful of nice options, but this ACA NEOGEO version offers quite bit more to play around with. You can adjust the various difficulty options, tweak the controls to your liking, and tinker with the video and audio to a decent extent. You also get the usual save and load options, something the previous version was lacking. It’s nice to be able to stop and pick up a game like this anytime you want on mobile. Of course, the usual ACA NEOGEO issue is here in that you can’t play multiplayer very easily. You’ll need a couple of external controllers and must both play off the same device, so unless you have something bigger than your iPhone it’s going to be a bit of a cramped situation.

I think players going the touch screen route will want to carefully consider what they are looking for from ACA NEOGEO Metal Slug. If you don’t mind the fact that you will probably be playing sub-optimally, having trouble hitting angles and doing quick maneuvers, and dying a whole lot, then you can still have a good bit of fun here just touring the game with unlimited credits. It’s certainly no worse than any other virtual button-based run-and-gun game on iOS, and the quality of the original game shines through sufficiently for you to have a nice time with it. Sixteen quarters, people. You can own this game and keep it in your pocket for sixteen quarters. Tell that to the you of 1996. Their mind would be blown.

I’ve said a lot of this before about various other ACA NEOGEO releases, and this perhaps collects many of those points. Better than the previous version? Absolutely. Good game? Friend, it’s so great. Well-suited to mobile? Probably not, especially if you’re using touch controls. Worth picking up anyway? Yes, I think so. It’s feature-rich, gives you all the margin for error you could ask for, and is affordable to boot. A solid pick for fans of arcade classics.

What an unusual day we have arrived upon today. Now, Sonic the Hedgehog games aren’t a new thing for iOS gaming. The original Sonic the Hedgehog appeared on the classic iPod, so the Blue Blur got in the doors as fast as you would expect him to. The iPhone and iPad saw their own ports of some of the classic games, too. We’ve also seen a handful of original Sonic games for the platform, like Sonic the Hedgehog 4, Sonic Dash, Sonic Jump, and Sonic Runners. But Sonic Dream Team hits a bit differently. It’s not just an original Sonic game, but it’s an exclusive one. And it’s not some free-to-play nonsense, but rather a proper (albeit bite-sized in some ways) 3D Sonic the Hedgehog title. That, of course, lands us in a different kind of Russian Roulette. Is this a good outing for SEGA’s mascot, or has he tripped over his non-existent laces yet again?

Using questions to end an introductory paragraph is an old habit from my first gig back in the day. It doesn’t make much sense when you can see the score immediately. Well, you know already. If you want a decent 3D Sonic game on your iPhone or iPad, I’m happy to say that this delivers. It leans more into the Boost Sonic style rather than the Adventure style, but I’m sure most would have expected that anyway. There’s a time and a place for that eventual Adventure 3, but I don’t think it’s here and now. There’s a story here, some business about Eggman trying to pervert some mysterious power to use for his ambitions of world conquest, but nothing to get too excited about. You’ll get a lot of cut-scenes, but most of them are just basic stills with text boxes. Also, I can’t believe we have a whole Sonic game set in the world of dreams and NiGHTS isn’t anywhere about. Rude.

Anyhow, the broad structure is familiar. You’ve got four zones that are broken up into three acts, each of which is basically a level incorporating the same theme as the rest of the acts in that zone. In Sonic Dream Team, each of those acts is then broken down into a bunch of challenges, each of which will net you a Dream Orb. The first challenge in each act also has a number of collectibles and other things around for you to hunt for, which will in turn net you more Dream Orbs and other goodies. Dream Orbs are the key to opening up further acts and zones and progressing the story. And of course at the end of each zone, you’ll have a lovely little boss battle. Quick napkin math will tell you that we’ve got twelve acts in total, which seems like a fair amount but ends up feeling too few after you’ve blasted your way through.

Adding some replay value are the additional characters, split in the usual Sonic manner by their abilities. Sonic and Amy go fast, so fast they can zip along trails of rings in the sky. They’re also the default characters. Tails and Cream can fly, as they often do. Then we have Knuckles and Rouge, and they can climb up walls, as they often do. There are some paths that only particular characters can reach, and you might have some fun fully exploring each act to see what you can find. They’re not massive spaces, but there are some interesting things to see if you poke around enough. Some extra weekly Tails’ Challenges give you more reasons to return, though it starts to feel like wringing blood from a stone at a certain point with the small number of acts.

I actually like the level designs a lot. The spaces are clearly built to keep pushing you forward in fun ways, with little breather sections between the breakneck rails and tubes that let you slow down and explore a little. Each zone also offers up some distinct gameplay mechanics, and the difficulty from act to act ramps up nicely as the game gets you comfortable with those mechanics. There are some of the usual 3D Sonic issues, of course. Sometimes you just go flying off of sections to your (only slightly inconvenient) “death”. Sometimes the path forward isn’t as clear as it could be. You don’t often need to adjust the camera, but on such occasions it can be a real pig.

This seems like as good a time as any to talk controls. If you have a controller, I recommend you use it. One of those nice Backbone controllers or a Kishi would be a lovely choice. If you do that, you’ll be playing it as you would expect, with movement on the left stick, camera control on the right, a button for jumping, and a button for dashing and boosting. Simple and easy to play. If you’re using touch controls, you’re given some virtual buttons and a virtual stick to mimic those actions. You can just drag the camera around, which is actually better than having on a stick, but trying to keep an eye on those buttons when you’re rolling around at the speed of sound can be bothersome. Still, I won’t say it plays badly with touch controls. It’s fine.

In terms of the presentation, it’s really well-done. The visuals are at a glance as good as the console 3D Sonic games, though the zones themselves are obviously a fair bit less ambitious in scope than most of them. The soundtrack is good, though I don’t think the best tunes in the franchise have much to fear from it. Ah, most of you will be playing with the mute switch on anyway. But if you do leave the sound on, I don’t think you’ll be displeased with what you hear. This game feels like a full-effort affair in virtually all regards, and that’s something I always like to see in a mobile game.

Really, the main way Sonic Dream Team drops the ball, apart from the frankly appalling lack of NiGHTS, is in just how breezy the game is. It only takes a few minutes to blow through one run of each act, and you can pretty much clean the plate on the whole affair in one evening. Nothing in the game is all that difficult, and I’d argue the bosses are almost laughably easy. It’s fine for a game to be short, of course. I like a lot of short games. But it feels like Sonic Dream Team is just starting to cook when it ends. There’s more to say here, I’m sure of it. Maybe the number of zones will be expanded in the promised future updates? It comes off like a warm-up for the real game, but the warm-up is all you get.

Sonic Dream Team gets a lot of things right, and I think anyone with an Apple Arcade subscription will have a really good time running through its various nooks and crannies. Even those who aren’t subscribed might want to pick up a month just to play through the game. The 3D Sonic pantheon definitely has far worse efforts than this. But that’s part of what makes it frustrating. It overcame a lot of the challenges 3D Sonic often struggles to get over, only to retire before the race is finished with a relatively short run-time. This could have been an amazing chapter in Sonic history, but instead it has to settle for being a good one.

Many years ago, I remember seeing a few copies of the Hitman Absolution collector’s edition in stores. Those didn’t end up selling out and were discounted heavily. I was not familiar with the series at that point, I just remember hearing a lot of folks lament the changes that game made to the formula. I didn’t bother playing it. When Hitman (the first game in the new trilogy) hit PS4, Xbox One, and PC in 2016, I ended up playing and adoring it. I was a fan, and couldn’t wait to play more from IO Interactive. Fast forward to today, the World of Assassination trilogy is superb, and I’ve bought those games multiple times across all platforms. I even ended up getting the HD collection on Xbox that included Hitman: Blood Money, but not playing it really. When Feral Interactive announced Hitman: Blood Money — Reprisal ($14.99), I knew this would be the way I experience this beloved IO Interactive classic. I also didn’t want to play prior versions to see how I feel about the game through Hitman: Blood Money — Reprisal directly. In this review, I’m going to cover why the game is special, what makes this one of Feral Interactive’s best games ever, and more.

As I said in my preview, I’ve come into Hitman: Blood Money — Reprisal after loving the newer games, and it still holds up very well thanks to the wealth of quality of life features and improvements. What really surprised me is how much freedom is available to the player for approaching the different situations in Hitman: Blood Money — Reprisal. This adds a ton of replay value, and while it isn’t as much of a sandbox experience as the complete Hitman World of Assassination package on PC and consoles, it is hard to find fault with the gameplay in Hitman: Blood Money — Reprisal and in how polished and modern it feels on newer devices. I almost titled this review “Franchise Killer”, but that would lead some to think the game is bad, rather than knowing it is a reference to the plot of the game. The mission structure perfectly suits portable play as well. In fact, the fast loading and save syncing makes this even better to play on the go. Boot it up for a quick mission or two while on the commute and I can’t imagine anything better.

A lot of my praise for Hitman: Blood Money — Reprisal is due to the features from the newer games being seamlessly brought back to Hitman: Blood Money. The instinct mode and minimap are the stars here. If you are a longtime fan of the original game though, you can play without any of the modern conveniences and experience it as it was back on console over a decade ago. Feral Interactive’s mobile conversions are usually fantastic for bringing classics to modern portable platforms, but Hitman: Blood Money — Reprisal rivals the developer’s release of Company of Heroes for iPad Pro with how impressive everything is.

Having looked at prior games and what I own on Steam, I then learned how much Hitman: Blood Money brought to the series. It was definitely a huge turning point for the franchise, and it makes me appreciate the superlative missions even more. A lot of them are very memorable, and while Sapienza from the new Hitman games remains my favorite sandbox, Hitman: Blood Money — Reprisal is definitely close overall. There just is so much variety and freedom, and yes, the coin is also included to basically break the game if you’re good enough with it.

Hitman: Blood Money — Reprisal feels so good with touch controls on iPhone that I almost didn’t feel like playing it with a controller at all. I hope someone at Capcom pays attention to Feral Interactive’s work to see how console games can be adapted for mobile rather than dumping every single controller button on the screen. That tangent aside, Hitman: Blood Money — Reprisal plays surprisingly well with touch controls. I ended up sticking to touch controls on my iPhone 15 Pro, and using my DualSense controller on iPad. The iPad touch controls are very good, but I’ve found myself not enjoying touch on iPad unless it is a point and click experience or touch-focused game.

Hitman: Blood Money — Reprisal also comes packed with tons of control options. I was hoping to test the keyboard and mouse support on my iPad Pro, but the external keyboard I ordered to use on iPad has not arrived yet. I will make sure to cover it once it does arrive and when I post about potential updates Feral Interactive releases for this game.

Hitman: Blood Money — Reprisal is obviously not a huge visual overhaul like say the Demon’s Souls remake on PS5. Think of it more as an enhanced remaster making everything look and feel as crisp and smooth as possible on modern iOS devices. This has led to some lower quality textures or assets than you’d be used to. On the performance side, I’ve had no trouble with the game on iPad Pro (2020) and iPhone 15 Pro. I played in either Performance mode or Performance+ mode. I did test out the 120fps, but didn’t stick with it. I’ll leave that for MrMacRight on YouTube to do in his detailed performance videos which Hitman: Blood Money — Reprisal likely will get soon.

Audio design in stealth games is very important, and I am pleased with how Hitman: Blood Money — Reprisal sounds across the board. Yes, including the voice acting which I found hilarious because of how different the dialogue is in this compared to modern games in the series. While not directly related to sound and audio, Hitman: Blood Money — Reprisal features great haptic feedback on iPhone 15 Pro. I love when games do this in iOS releases.

There isn’t much I dislike about Hitman: Blood Money — Reprisal. Those hoping for a full visual remake will be disappointed, but Hitman: Blood Money — Reprisal has always been an enhanced remaster with many gameplay improvements in my eyes. The only things I hope to see added in future updates are better texture filtering, improved shadows, and anti-aliasing. Barring those things, Hitman: Blood Money — Reprisal excels above all prior versions of the game by a big margin.

Feral Interactive is known for going above and beyond in post-launch and paid DLC in games so this is more of a want than something I expect, but I’d love for the team to bring over Hitman: Contracts with the same care and attention Hitman: Blood Money — Reprisal got. This could be either paid DLC for Hitman: Blood Money — Reprisal or a standalone release. I’d also love for this version to come to macOS and Steam Deck. The PC version is not in a great place if you want to play on Steam Deck.

Hitman: Blood Money — Reprisal is one of the easiest recommendations ever. I finally see why many consider it one of the best games ever, and while it is too soon to say if it is my favorite Hitman game, it is close. If you’re new to the franchise and want a great way to taste the world of Hitman on mobile, there isn’t anything close. In fact, I’ll go so far as to say Hitman: Blood Money — Reprisal on mobile and Hitman: World of Assassination on PC and console platforms are both the best entry points into the series, and both masterpieces. If you have a newer iPhone or iPad, don’t even think twice. Just go buy Hitman: Blood Money — Reprisal.

Somebody once told me that leverless controllers for fighting games were a gimmick or cheating. I didn’t really know what they meant because I had only just started dipping my toes into the world of fight sticks with the 8BitDo Arcade Stick for Nintendo Switch and PC. I never had a chance to try a leverless controller before, but I noticed a lot of my friends started mentioning Junkfood’s Snack Box. I didn’t pay attention because I was eyeing the Hori Alpha for PS5, which I ended up getting a few months ago and loving. When Razer announced the Kitsune arcade controller, I was curious, but without having any leverless experience, I wasn’t sure it would be for me. I recently got to interview Razer about the Kitsune and a lot more, and that got me interested in trying the stick which I was sent for review. Having now spent just under a month with it across daily use, I’m a believer, but I feel like it won’t replace sticks completely for me yet.

I also want to make it clear that I’m not some authority on fight sticks and arcade controllers, and that this review is going to be a bit different. I want this to not only help you understand whether the Kitsune is for you, but also whether you should try leverless in general. I’m going to highlight how I learned to embrace leverless with the Kitsune, what worked for me, what I’d like to see improved in a successor, whether I recommend it as your first arcade controller, and more. My experience with fight sticks and controllers so far is 8BitDo’s arcade sticks, the Hori Fighting Stick Alpha for PS5, and using a gamepad. With the Razer Kitsune, I’m now a believer in leverless, and it is one superb piece of kit, but it isn’t perfect. Before getting into the Kitsune itself, you might not be aware of what a leverless controller is, and why some folks prefer it for modern games.

What is a leverless controller?

Most fight sticks or fighting game focused controllers have a stick (hence the name) on the left with eight buttons on the right. This aims to replicate the arcade layout for fighting games. The positions and other aspects of these inputs vary by controller, with arcade stick and controller customization being a huge part of the fun, at least for me. On the stick side, Sanwa seems to be the most popular brand. Sanwa also makes buttons, but I’ve seen some people prefer other brands like Seimitsu or Hori’s Hayabusa buttons. I love the Hayabusa buttons on my Hori Alpha for PS5, but that isn’t really relevant here.

A leverless controller doesn’t have a stick, and replaces it with four buttons, one for each direction. A stick usually has a square gate (inside to allow you to move across the same four directions), and a leverless controller lets you use individual buttons to allow for quicker responses for specific inputs like quarter or half circle motions. Instead of physically moving the stick from say left to right in a half circle motion, you can just tap three buttons on a leverless controller. The inputs can be thought of like the arrow keys on a keyboard.

Leverless controllers also can let you do things like holding left and right together, which is physically not possible with a stick, but this isn’t tournament legal, and has resulted in Razer disabling that. This is known as SOCD, and where the “cheat” aspect comes into the picture depending on the controller. The Razer Kitsune, disables this to be tournament legal.

One other aspect I want to discuss about leverless controllers before getting into the actual review of the Kitsune, is the button layout. It definitely looks weird in pictures if you haven’t tried it for yourself. This reminds me of the Steam Deck, which I thought wouldn’t be comfortable, but after getting one, I naturally started positioning correctly, but learning what all the buttons did, and not having to look down, was another problem I needed to solve.

Learning leverless with rhythm games, Ryu, and Zangief

I practiced moving from a DualSense and Xbox pad to a stick in Street Fighter 6 with Zangief, and it worked out well. To go leverless, I tried the same thing and was able to make some progress, but I wasn’t happy because I kept looking down at least once or twice in a fight. It then struck me. Why was I not using rhythm games, a genre I love and am good at, to learn the positions of the directions, face buttons, and more. I started playing Persona 4 Dancing All Night on PS5, and Hatsune Miku Project DIVA Mega Mix+ on Steam Deck with the Razer Kitsune in easier stages. This helped a ton. Once I knew the button placement and didn’t need to look down, the next step was training the fingers on my left hand for various motions.

To do this, I picked Ryu to start with the basics. Hadoukens (fireball) and Shoryukens (dragon punches) being mastered, led to me trying complicated motions, and then moving to Zangief, to start doing grappler moves. Zangief has a lot of 360 motions (full circle on the stick). This took a little bit since I needed to get my fingers used to doing this fast, but it paid off. I recommend spending a good amount of time in training or even redoing the game tutorials so you start getting comfortable with any new controller you buy, but I feel like it is more important when trying to transition to something completely different like the Kitsune.

Once I was comfortable, I started playing with friends online, and eventually moved to using the Kitsune in the Battle Hub in Street Fighter 6. Playing and losing initially was still worth the experience. I’m now confident enough in a leverless, to be looking at more options, and even consider things like the Odin V2 for one of the 8BitDo sticks I use.

Razer Kitsune’s form factor and buttons are both amazing, but they might not be for everyone

I’ve spent a lot of time talking about things other than the Kitsune, but it was needed. Whenever I did my research for fight sticks or arcade controllers, I always wanted to know why people prefer leverless or other arcade controllers, and how they learned to get comfortable with a brand-new or different input method. Right off the bat, the Razer Kitsune looks gorgeous in all its promotional material. What’s surprising is how much better it looks and how it feels in person. It feels and looks premium, and perfectly rests on my lap. The large aluminum top plate gives me enough space to rest my wrists while playing, and I never once got cramps during the time I spent with the controller.

I got used to the Sanwa buttons I installed on my 8BitDo sticks, and also the lovely Hayabusa buttons on my Hori fight stick. I love how the Razer Kitsune buttons feel. The layout and spacing both work well for my hands, but this is something that might not work for you. I’d recommend downloading Razer’s artwork template and printing it out to see how the spacing works (to some degree) for your hands. The actual buttons use Razer’s optical switches from its keyboards. These are easy to replace with many you can buy separately. A lot of folks seem to use Keychron switches, but I don’t think I will change them. It feels great and works well out of the box. I feel similar to the Hori Alpha which I only really modded for the removable stick through the Phreak Mod.

The USB-C cable locking mechanism which is a lovely touch. In fact, I feel like Razer went the extra mile with the Razer Kitsune to even include a high quality long braided cable with the controller. I just wish there was a place to store this easily without needing an external case. Maybe a pouch for the cable would’ve been good here.

Razer Kitsune device support

Officially, the Razer Kitsune supports PS5 and PC only. I’ve not actually used it on Windows since I don’t have a Windows device at home, but I did use it a ton on Steam Deck and PS5. On Steam Deck, it works flawlessly in PC mode, and the touchpad button on the top even works as a cursor. While it does not affect me at all, I think it is worth mentioning that the Razer Kitsune does not support the PS4. The Hori Alpha I use works on PS4, PS5, and PC, but the Razer Kitsune is only on PS5 and PC. Keep that in mind if you think some locals and tournaments you take part in are still running on PS4 systems, or you’d also like to use it on PS4.

Razer Kitsune’s other buttons range from being great to just fine

While the main buttons feel amazing and responsive, I feel like Razer should’ve made some of the other buttons a bit easier to press. The share and options button are probably the worst of the lot. I got used to how easy it was accessing the options button the Hori Alpha with it being a nice big arcade button on the top right. On the Razer Kitsune, it is a small button on the top left and too close to the share button. I hope a Razer Kitsune successor improves on this part because it is basically my only real complaint with the controller.

Razer Kitsune skins and decals – how easy is it to customize and mod?

When you buy the Razer Kitsune, you can either get the plain black one (that I have), the Street Fighter 6 Chun Li Edition, or the Street Fighter 6 Cammy Edition. You can also buy some other decals that Razer sells on its store. As of this writing, Razer doesn’t sell different colored buttons or another color Razer Kitsune like a white one. This isn’t as customizable on that front like the Hori Alpha I use, or even the 8BitDo sticks I have. Hopefully we see colors, replacement switches, and even new color top plates being sold in the future. Customization is a huge part of the experience for a lot of folks.

Going back to the Chun Li and Cammy editions, Razer sells Street Fighter 6 branded skins and plates for its mouse and also mousepads. I hope we see the Juri art version decal sold for the Razer Kitsune soon as well. We’ve seen some decals for games like Mortal Kombat 1 or the upcoming Project L at events and more as well. I’d love for more official decals to be sold with game specific branding as options. I’m likely going to commission a friend for art to use on mine, but would buy the Juri decal without thinking twice.

Razer Kitsune vs Hori Fighting Stick Alpha – which one to buy

This is a question I was asking myself when I got the Hori Alpha, and also while using the Razer Kitsune. Which one would I recommend? It is hard to say right now. The Hori Alpha is $200 while the Razer Kitsune is $300. I love both controllers a lot, and think I even prefer the buttons on both to Sanwa buttons. The Hori is more customizable and moddable for sure, but it lacks a removable cable. The Kitsune is more portable, sleeker, and built better.

If you have the option to try them both out before buying, I’d do that. If you value customization the most, the Hori wins. If you want a leverless for your PS5, I can’t think of a better official option right now barring the Victrix which costs more. If you want one for PC and Steam Deck, the cheaper alternatives might be a better starting point before you invest $300 into this.

Razer Kitsune – is it worth the price?

Looking at the cost of getting a leverless controller with PS5 support and not using a Brook converter will bring up the price to almost the same as the base model of the Razer Kitsune. This isn’t a justification for the price because Razer as a huge company is building at scale compared to the smaller boutique stores, but the important point to note is the distribution and warranty that Razer offers. For many folks, buying from smaller stores might not be feasible based on the country they live in or shipping prices, while the Kitsune is available more widely. When I bought the 8BitDo for Switch and PC, I thought it was a lot of money to spend on something I may not even use after a week. It ended up pushing me into the fightstick and arcade controller rabbit hole. That cost a third of the Kitsune, so this is definitely not an entry level price point, but more of a premium price.

The Razer Kitsune feels amazing, has held up perfectly in the time I’ve used it, and is very portable. I don’t have any of the other leverless controllers to compare with, but the Kitsune has made me believe in leverless for sure. It is that good. If I hadn’t gotten this one already, but had been able to try one for a few hours, I’d definitely order it. It exceeded all my expectations for its buttons, build quality, and how it feels to play on Steam Deck and PS5.

Will the Razer Kitsune make me completely ditch sticks for leverless?

It will not. I’ve found myself preferring the Hori Alpha or 8BitDo over the Kitsune for shoot ’em ups on PS5 and Switch so far. It might be a case of not getting used to a specific game on leverless since I’m only about a month into using leverless, but I think I will be playing leverless for many, but not all fighting games. I definitely have seen the light with this controller, and will be experimenting with the other smaller options, and even looking into getting a second one for Xbox if Razer ever does one for the platform. I think the Razer Kitsune also will be my goto controller for specific rhythm games on Steam Deck.

I’ve enjoyed slowly getting deep into customization, modding, and learning the various control options for fighting games, shoot ’em ups, and other arcade games ever since I got an 8BitDo stick. Having now gotten one stick per platform at this point with the Hori Alpha Street Fighter 6 Edition being my main PS5 stick, the 8BitDo on my Switch, and the newer 8BitDo Xbox edition for my Xbox Series X, the Kitsune has made me want a leverless option per platform as well.

Is the Razer Kitsune the best Steam Deck arcade controller?

Over the last few weeks, I’ve used the Razer Kitsune when playing on the Steam Deck itself, and also when connected to an external monitor. I played with it wired of course, across Mortal Kombat 1 (which has a huge performance boost in the newest SteamOS), Street Fighter 6, Skullgirls, The King of Fighters XV, Guilty Gear Strive, UNICLR, and Garou: Mark of the Wolves. I played both online and offline and the Razer Kitsune just works as it should. In the time I’ve spent with it (over a 100 hours across PS5 and Steam Deck), it has given me no trouble. The touchpad even functions as a mouse without me having to change any settings.

Based on what I have access to with four arcade controllers now, I think the Razer Kitsune is the best arcade controller for fighting games on Steam Deck, and it is one of my favorite controllers ever. I’m confident in saying that already. Note that I haven’t tried the Snackbox and other similar controllers that are even more compact, but I definitely will try and get my hands on them in the future. For now, I adore how the Razer Kitsune feels to play. The fact that it basically fits into the larger iPad sleeve I have at home also helps. It is sleek and gorgeous, but more importantly, it works flawlessly on both PS5 and Steam Deck.

If you do buy the Razer Kitsune models listed above through our links on Amazon, it helps TouchArcade in a small way.

Is that the full title then? Gubbins – It’s A Word Game (Free)? I’m just going to call it Gubbins from here on out. If I need to talk about normal gubbins, I’ll write it without the capital letter G like I just did there. But I don’t have an old brown sofa, so the odds of me needing to talk about gubbins in the course of any given review are fairly low. The odds of me needing to talk about the Gubbins in Gubbins, at least for this review, are rather high. Sorry, I’ve reviewed a lot of word games on iOS in my time, and these intro paragraphs don’t get any easier the fiftieth time. Should we move to the actual meat of the review?

Anyway, Gubbins. It’s a word game, that’s no lie. Letters are distributed to you in some manner or another, and you need to flex your vocabulary skills to try to make big, fancy words in exchange for big, fancy points. This was one of the more obvious kinds of games to put on mobile phones, so it’s not surprising word games came in early and strong. There are absolutely tons of these available, and a lot of them are very good. So how can a new entry stand out from the pack? The answer, I think, comes down to two things. You have to have a twist or gimmick that actually works, and you have to bring your A-game to the presentation. Anything less and people are just going to keep playing Spell Tower or what have you.

I’m going to do the less obvious thing and touch on the gameplay features first. You’ve got three modes to play, though if you opt to go free-to-play you can only choose one to play per day. The mechanics are similar between the three, with only a few different points. Classic mode is the normal game, and I’ll explain what that means soon. Pencil mode removes all but one of the Gubbins from the game, turning it a relatively pure word game. Daily mode gives you the same set-up as every other player on that day, with particular words laid out and certain rules in effect. There’s a reasonably-priced IAP if you want to unlock everything, by the way. I recommend doing it if you like the game. Studio Folly seem like decent folks, and the game is good.

Okay, you’ve selected your desired mode. You’ll now have a board in front of you with a little tray of letters, and you’d be forgiven for thinking there’s something awfully familiar about all of this. But some of the letters are stuck together with other letters, and there are letter tiles behind the letters. It’s like some sort of bizarre solitaire game! If you want to see what’s on those tiles, you’ll have to play the ones on top first. That’s just how it is. You can place them anywhere on the board, and you don’t have to worry about them crashing into other letters or anything. You can rotate them between vertical and horizontal alignments, which is nice.

Once you’ve made something resembling a proper word on the board, you just run your finger along to submit it. The tiles will will be cleared, you’ll get your points, and everyone goes home happy. Keep on playing those tiles until you reach the one at the bottom that says FIN, and when you’re satisfied that you’ve done all you can, play that tile to finish the game. It’s like every game is a fancy little French film. Classy as heck. Your score will be displayed along with all the nifty words you made, and you might even unlock some achievements. If you’re the sort that shares your score, this is where you can do it.

The tile stack is an important feature of this game. It’s not unusual for a game like this to keep which letters are coming next a surprise, but you can clearly see which tiles are blocking the next batch and are nudged towards using letters you might otherwise leave behind. It’s a good set-up that gets players to use new strategies. But it lacks that sizzle, doesn’t it? We’ve got tile stacks! No one is throwing down their wallets for that one. We need some extra gubbins in here. We need some… Gubbins.

In Gubbins, Gubbins are special tiles that will show up randomly as you’re playing through your stack. Some of them will help you, and some of them will hurt you. At first there will only be a few kinds of Gubbins, but as you play you’ll unlock more of them. One of the IAPs also adds more Gubbins to the game. Each Gubbin has its own specific effect, and you’ll generally be given a choice between two of them when they first appear in a game. Some will let you move letters around. Some will move letters around on their own. Some will add useful tiles to the board. Others will add largely unwanted junk tiles.

Bad Gubbins will play themselves once revealed, while it’s up to you to play the good Gubbins whenever you think it’s best to do so. It’s an interesting random element that gives the game a lot of its mechanical flavor, and it’s why I tend to prefer Classic mode to Pencil mode. You might feel differently of course, so it’s good we have the choice. The thing about the Gubbins though is that they also give the game a lot of its aesthetic flavor, and that’s how we move into talking about the presentation. That’s the kind of smooth transition you get from a twenty-five year veteran of the trade.

The presentation in Gubbins is really good. The music is chill, with some soft piano and trumpets making you feel like you’re relaxing in a cafe or something. And who knows? Maybe you are. Sound effects are serviceable and do what they need to. The look of the game is what really puts it over the top. It’s very cartoony, with lots of pop-up effects that punctuate the in-game action. The Gubbins themselves are all individually-designed creatures with their own little animations. When you play them, you’ll see short little flourishes, and some of them will just be hanging out on the edges of the board. The whole game feels alive with all these cute little animated elements, and I dig the creature design. That weird-looking fellow coming out at the end of each game has some impact, to be sure.

It’s hard to find much to object to in Gubbins, really. It doesn’t do anything dramatically different from other word games on a fundamental level, so if you don’t like that kind of thing I guess you won’t enjoy this? Otherwise, this is smooth sailing all the way. It has tons of charm thanks to its lively presentation, the extra twists give the gameplay a flavor of its own, and you can try it out for free, buy extra bits like more Gubbins a la carte, or pay one reasonable fee to get everything. I’ll happily take this game and all the gubbins and Gubbins that come with it.