NOTE FROM THE EDITOR: We here at GameTyrant have been absolutely bombarded with so many products and games this year and there is still so much to come! We will be rolling out select quick reviews to let our audience know about products, games, and DLC that may have slipped under their radar. We appreciate the amazing support from all publishers and developers out there!
The base game was already good. Let's start there, because S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 deserved more credit than it sometimes received at launch. But with the Cost of Hope DLC and especially the massive 2.0 update, this is finally the game it aspired to be from the very beginning.
The Zone has never felt more alive, more dangerous, or more absolutely begging to be explored. Every corner of this world rewards curiosity, every encounter carries weight, and the improvements across the board have transformed an already solid experience into something genuinely special. It's not perfect, but it's nevertheless fantastic, and the journey from launch to where the game stands now is one of the most impressive turnarounds in recent memory.
Let's also take a moment to acknowledge the developers, because they deserve our support. This is a team that has faced unimaginable challenges and still managed to deliver a world-class experience that stands proudly alongside the best the genre has to offer. The dedication and passion behind every update, every fix, and every piece of new content is impossible to miss.
If you bounced off the game at launch or were waiting for it to hit its stride, now is the time. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 with the 2.0 update and Cost of Hope is the definitive way to experience the Zone, and these developers have more than earned your attention. Massive props!
Here's another game developed in Ukraine and another shining example of what happens when a passionate team pours everything they have into a project. The Sinking City 2 is an absolute labor of love and it shows in every single frame.
The gameplay is engaging, the audiovisual presentation is stunning, and the overall experience radiates a level of care and craft that elevates it far beyond what you might expect. If you love your horror dripping with polish and atmosphere, this is the one to play right now. Fair warning though as this is a very different game from the first Sinking City, and that's going to ruffle some feathers among fans who were expecting a direct continuation of that formula.
The changes are bold and the direction is distinct, so going in with an open mind is going to serve you well. But if you can meet the game on its own terms, what you'll find is one of the most impressive horror experiences on PC right now. The team behind this one has delivered something truly awesome and they deserve every bit of recognition for pulling it off under circumstances that would have broken most studios.
I wasn’t expecting much from The Sinking City 2 but I came away both terrified and impressed. Is there any greater compliment you could give to a game like this? I think not.
Nioh 3 ended up being a great game and Hell Rising is a solid piece of DLC that delivers exactly what you'd expect and want: more Nioh 3. The combat is still punishing and rewarding in equal measure; the new content adds worthwhile challenges for seasoned players, and the overall quality is right in line with what the base game established. If you loved Nioh 3 and you want more of it, Hell Rising gives you precisely that. Nothing more, nothing less.
The challenge for this DLC isn't quality; it's timing. This is a brutally busy stretch of the year for releases, and with some excellent DLC drops competing for the same audience and the same dollars, Hell Rising is facing an uphill battle for attention. It doesn't help that the expansion plays it safe rather than swinging for the fences with anything dramatically new. This is one strictly for the fans, and those fans will be perfectly happy with what they get. But if you're juggling a packed backlog and have to prioritize, this is an easier one to circle back to later when the dust settles.
