DLC #191 - Call of Duty : WWII - Shadow War

As I effortlessly chopped down hordes of zombies in wave 16 with the Fist of Tal'rek - The Thulian Hammer - well on my way towards unlocking the final trophy for this set, I was already thankfully reflecting on the ease of another zombies experience courtesy of some veteran zombies enthusiasts.

Could this harbour a greater challenge? Probably. Does it matter to me? Absolutely not.

Shadow War adds The Frozen Dawn zombies map. Set in the coldest depths of the Antarctica, and even deeper as you uncover the lost city of Thule lying shrouded in mystery beneath the surface.

A network of icy caverns and wind-chilling passages awaits as you discover the secrets that lie within, uncovered by a series of Raven Trials, which will also give you access to a plethora of new wonder weapons to cut down the zombie hordes in different ways - The clear standout highlight of this particular DLC pack.

The Talon of Lu'roth (Broken Flail) allows you to slice up enemies at close range, but the spiked ball can also be thrown and doubles up as a teleportation device, instantly transporting you across the map for the purposes of escaping danger and taking shortcuts. The briefly mentioned Fist of Tal'rek (Thulian Hammer) generates a shock of electric when swung which can wipe out any zombies within it's pulsing pathway. The Fang of An'Heist (Thulian Scythe) moves in similar fashion - A pulse of energy sent with every swipe that will kill zombies both up close and within a limited distance. The Roar of Sang'Ket (Thulian Shield) will serve it's primary purpose of protecting you from attacks, but can also be used to unleash a devastating charge attack to any zombies within your immediate path.

Obtaining all 4 of them is a mandatory step on your way to completing the Easter Egg, as you cannot transport yourself to the final boss fight without a Thulian wonder weapon in tow. If you're in a party, everyone will need each of the wonder weapons equipped to commence the battle. Speaking of which, the Ancient Evil boss fight is the best boss conclusion across any of the WWII DLC packs. He looks and feels imposing and is much larger than any boss you'll have faced, giving him a dominant demeanour.

Other unique features of the map include transporters - An instant method of teleporting to a different area - and Corpse Eater zombies, a new model of zombie which will consume other zombies to garner further strength and eventually attack the player. It is important to neutralise them quickly.

This pack contains 10 additional trophies, and the method to completion was exactly the same as it was for The Darkest Shore;

Just 2 playthroughs of the map required for all trophies. The first one focusing on the Easter Egg and defeating the Ancient Evil. As mentioned above, you need to craft all 4 Thulian wonder weapons as separate steps towards the Easter Egg, and as a result, obtaining these make up a fairly large portion of this journey.

Each weapon is obtained by beating one of the Raven trials, and of the 10 trophies, 4 of these are awarded. One for each wonder weapon. There is also another trophy awarded for obtaining 100 kills with each of the wonder weapons in a single game. I did not obtain this on my first playthrough, but it absolutely makes sense to complete the Easter Egg and then unlock this trophy once you're teleported back into the map and the regular waves continue.

If you don't, you'll need to progress the majority of the Easter Egg all over again, and this is the main reason I actually needed 2 playthroughs of this map in the end. This takes on much less importance when you're running with some good zombies players.

The second playthrough required a clean up process of 7 trophies. I needed 3 out of the 4 trial-specific trophies here. The general rule of thumb in zombies is that, if one of the players in the party completes a certain task, everyone in the party is awarded the trophy, but with the 4 trial trophies, only the player who completes the trial will actually unlock the trophy for it. This was a big focus of the second run, and thankfully, my party was aware of my needs. Each time a different player completes one of the Raven trials, this will lock you out of the trophy, and you'll need a fresh run. This is important to note.

The other primary focus was making sure I accumulated 100 kills with each of the wonder weapons. Simple enough, due to their immense power, even in later waves, but they can only be obtained through progressing the Easter Egg.

Courtesy of some helpful individuals, another easier than anticipated zombies package. No research required and no practice runs to understand the map mechanics. Dive straight in, allow your teammates to take control and reap the benefits.

DLC #190 - Call of Duty : WWII - The Resistance

Here's something I've finally realised about Call of Duty Zombie-based DLC content;

If you're like me, and disliked the direction they took trophies for completing complicated Easter Eggs, all you actually need to succeed is a couple of people who know exactly what they're doing. You can be a complete passenger to success and nobody will care about it.

The Resistance adds The Darkest Shore map - a beached war compound complete with trenches, artillery bunkers and a U-Boat pen. Fog intermittently rolls in across the landscape between waves to add a dynamic of reduced visibility for both you and your enemies alike.

The Ripsaw is a newly added wonder weapon, upgraded by ripping out the spines of zombies, and allowing you to fire off circular saws with enough force to kill handfuls at once. If you want to venture deep enough, the Pommel of Barbosa, awarded upon completion of the Easter Egg, is an explosive projectile that can trigger a double explosion for additional damage.

Perks are now renamed to Blitz, and some of them are either slightly tweaked or brand new, but they're still purchased via machines dotted around the map for a specific cost of jolts, and will last the duration of the game unless you die.

Loads of freshness bought to the experience, and yet I'm still not that into any of it.

The Easter Egg is still it's usual, convoluted self, but there's an added bonus of fighting a boss at the end of each one now. Admittedly, this is a nice little addition. Mainly because there's finally some combat-centric action to get stuck into, rather than holding a crawling zombie alive for 30 minutes whilst you process a load of tedious steps in-between. They're not my idea of fun and never have been, but the boss fight climax is at least palatable.

There are 10 additional trophies to be earned on The Darkest Shore, and my experience with this DLC pack was an absolute joy.

For full disclosure, there are potentially some challenging trophies here, but I managed to wrap this content up within just 2 playthroughs of the map.

In the first one, I jumped into a lobby with 2 veteran zombies players, who guided me through the entire Easter Egg, and helped me achieve 7 of the 10 trophies in the process.

The "Severe Pommelling" trophy, awarded for killing 250 zombies with Barbarossa's Pommel in one match, is one to watch out for though. You'll only be able to earn this trophy once you've completed the Easter Egg. Barbarossa's Pommel is only unlocked as the reward for beating the Super Meuchlers and finalising the last step. It cannot be crafted from hidden parts around the map, nor can it be pulled from the mystery box. It was pointed out to me by the people who were running the Easter Egg, and I probably wouldn't have known this without their guidance.

If you leave the match without getting this trophy, you'll have to run through the Easter Egg all over again, just to earn the Pommel and unlock the trophy, and who really wants to do all that when you're only in it for trophies?

This session, along with unlocking all the other trophies attached to it, took just over an hour. This is probably fairly normal for time estimations regarding putting the steps into practice, but the underrated part to this level of efficiency is not having to do all the background research that goes into understanding an Easter Egg and it's various steps, and this may also include practice runs to get familiar with it. The benefits of running with a couple of experienced players who are more than happy for you to get a carry in their lobby are mainly down to the fact you can bypass all of this, and are not to be understated.

The second playthrough was in commitment to the remaining 3 trophies. These took around 30 minutes, with assistance from the same people who had supported me previously.

We loaded up a lobby together, and I just did exactly what they told me I needed to do in order to get the remaining 3 trophies required to complete the set - All whilst expecting nothing in return. Seamless and minimal effort. I have said previously that one of the biggest positives of zombies is the supportiveness of the community that sits around it, and this experience is an exemplary example of that.

A total completion time of less than 2 hours across just a couple of runs of the map should tell you all you need to know about the ease of which I found the experience with this DLC pack. It has the potential to be more challenging, especially if you're committed to learning the Easter Egg and attempting to run it yourself. Some additional trophies can also be tricky if you don't know some key strategies.

Bear in mind that the only way you can kill 13 zombies with one Ripsaw shot is to have an insta-kill power-up active. You can easily kill the elusive Meuchler for a charged spine when you first enter the hidden sacrifice room as part of the Easter Egg. This sort of knowledge is vital, but again, was something I had to rely on the more experienced players to advise me on.

There is a greater challenge lying in wait for those without the beneficiary of support from seasoned zombies players that can certainly make this more difficult. Just not for me on this occasion.

Platinum #136 - Assassin's Creed Origins

Platinum Difficulty Rating - 5/10

If there was a series that could have benefitted from a fresh start, Assassin's Creed would be a prime candidate.

There's only so long you'll get away with the same formula that barely extended beyond altering the setting and location, but Assassin's Creed Origins officially rips the script up and starts anew, taking a dramatic shift for the series. It isn't perfect, but it is a step in the right direction.

The main character is Bayek of Siwa. The time period is Ancient Egypt. After being held captive by a mysterious group along with his nephew Khemu, they are taken to an underground vault, where Bayek is presented with the Apple of Eden. The mysterious group believe the Apple acts as a key to open the vault and whatever treasures lie within, but also do not understand the potential jeopardy that comes along with this.

During the attempted struggle to escape, Bayek accidentally kills his nephew, and holds the masked men and those who command them responsible. This turns out to be a group called the Hidden Ones - Linked to the Assassin Brotherhood - Who partly make up a larger organisation called the Ancient Order. This group of assassin's primary goal is to dethrone Cleopatra and resume control over Ancient Egypt, and whilst Bayek's story is ultimately one driven by revenge, the bigger picture is about preventing Egyptian rule falling into the wrong hands.

It's a solid instalment to the series. The Ancient Egyptian era always had great potential for an Assassin's Creed game, which is fully realised here. Vast deserts, deep tombs and towering Pyramids all capture the authenticity of the era perfectly. If you had to guess where you were, you'd be able to tell straight away. Chariot racing at the Hippodrome, Crocodiles submerged in the Nile and Gladiatorial fights to the death at the Krokodilopolis all add further to the credibility. A shoe-in for one of my favourite Assassin's Creed eras in history.

The trophy list is large in size, containing 51 trophies, including the Platinum trophy. Despite the build of this game being drastically different to previous titles, there isn't much variance to the trophy list.

The "The End" trophy, awarded for Completing the last Main Quest, caps off the Origins experience as you kill numerous targets of the Ancient Order and finish off Bayek's story of revenge. If you think it's odd seeing the word "Quest" in an Assassin's Creed game, then you would be right to have that inkling, and this is where the big change in direction comes in.

The game is now a fully-fledged RPG. You earn experience to level up Bayek, which in turn will grant you ability points you can spend on a plethora of options via a brand new skill tree. Looting tombs and hideouts will grant you weaponry and shields that can strengthen your armoury, as well as finding valuable trinkets you can sell to raise money to pay for upgrades and the purchase of new gear. Enemies also have a level applied to them, which is an indication of where the more challenging areas of the game lie, and anything above your character level may require some additional work before revisiting at a later time. Weapons even have traits and abilities too. It acts, smells and looks like an RPG in every sense.

The combat system has also been overhauled. The previous system of simply holding down a button to automatically block attacks, and pressing another to counter, was overly simplistic, and felt dumbed down. You'll now have to block, dodge, counter and strike your opponents, and mistiming any of the above will leave you open to death. You may be more inclined to stick to some classic Assassin's Creed stealth, as there's much more risk involved engaging in fights in comparison to the previously safer system, but this is definitely still an upgrade.

Do such drastic changes pay off? Yes. The RPG spin is much better suited to an open world game like Assassin's Creed, and whilst it doesn't exactly make the game overly challenging, there is an initial learning curve to get used to the new concept. There's just way more depth compared to before, which is naturally more engaging and makes progression feel more rewarding where it didn't previously exist. It works though, and that's the most important thing when you gamble on reinventing the wheel.

The story itself is solid, and you'll run into alot of familiar historical figures if you're clued up on your Ancient Egyptian history. The premise of stabbing your way through to the end goal is unchanged over the course of 23 main story quests leading up to the end. My total playtime up to the point I'd unlocked the final story trophy, with a little bit of distraction accounted for, was 37 hours. You'll unlock an additional 10 progression-based trophies for beating other quests along the way, and there is no requirement to beat it on any specific difficulty level.

The replay value for any main story in Assassin's Creed has mainly come through 100% synchronisation trophies. Previously, the story was broken down into chapters (which were referred to in-game as memories), and these contained a number of missions within.

Outside the main objective of just simply beating the mission, there used to be a series of secondary objectives which contributed to a synchronisation percentage for that memory. It has been historically common place to include a trophy for reaching 100% synchronisation for every memory in the game, and this is where you'd usually have a reason to go back through the story and replay any missions where you'd missed some of the secondary objectives.

This is completely absent from Origins, and once you've beaten the main questline, there is little reason to go back through any of the quests, unless you just wanted to for your own cathartic benefits. This means you can jump straight into the post-game content, and the rest of the trophy list.

The "Old Habits" trophy, awarded for Completing all locations, is where the bulk of your extra-curricular time will be spent with this game, as you go around the huge map ticking off a bunch of different tasks in order to "complete" locations.

The greater map is divided into regions. There are 34 of these in total, and they all contain various activities for you to finish which lead towards obtaining this trophy. Some of these regions contain busy, congested cities with loads going on and others are baron desert with not much going on at all.

This part is my where my biggest criticism of the game comes in, and Origins isn't the first open world game to be guilty of this, but there are a very limited number of activities that just end up being copy and pasted across the entire map to exaggerate the illusion of depth. Previous Assassin's Creed titles were exactly the same. You'd have the same series of tasks to complete in order to liberate a certain area, and these would be the same group of activities duplicated multiple times to pad content.

The big issue with Origins is that this now takes place on a much grander scale than ever before. The post-game grind was always much less fun than the story with Assassin's Creed titles, but it was at least never too strenuous. Exact numbers vary depending on your source, but there are circa 400 activities that need to be completed in order to achieve this trophy, and this will significantly pad your completion time. There are only around 6 different activity types in total. Once you've liberated an outpost, or cleared an animal lair or looted a building for the first time, the realisation you have to do this 400 times on repeat is daunting, and it turns the game into a mundane grind to the finish.

There is little element of skill to keep you on your toes, however there are 4 activities dedicated to fighting War Elephants, which are worth mentioning separately to the rest of this catalogue of tasks. War Elephants are colossal beasts with massive health and dangerous attacks that can take you out in a few hits if you aren't careful. They're also heavily protected with armour plating and are accompanied by a rider who will attack you with arrows and fire bombs from range. You'll need to be around level 40 in order to give them a good enough fight to take them down.

Each War Elephant also has it's own fighting style, which means you'll need to master a fresh approach for each fight. Everything you did to understand the attack patterns from the last fight? Forget it, because the next one is completely different. If that wasn't enough, there's also a trophy awarded for taking down 2 of them at once in a grand finale. It's a refreshing change of pace for an exercise that has you drifting through autopilot for the most part, and it provides a welcome challenge.

With the new RPG approach, there are also a lot of side quests scattered around the map, but these do not need to be explored in any degree of detail, aside a random couple that relate to specific trophies within the list. They don't count towards completing a location though, and they're not required for any other trophies. They are a good source of experience for levelling up and can also grant some nice weaponry and equipment upon completion though, so they are at least worth taking into consideration.

Outside of this, there's actually some good creativity and thought gone into the list, with many trophies awarded for random and fun tasks, encouraging you to explore and interact with the new open world as often as possible. Taming a lion just to be able to lead it into the jaws of a Crocodile has to be up there with some of the best examples of how to inspire fun trophies.

One final thing of note - Assassin's Creed games have historically been fond of collectibles, and some previous titles in the series have overloaded in this department. These are completely dropped altogether for Origins, and there's not a single traditional collectible in sight. I've made it no secret in other reviews that I'm not a huge fan of collectible-based trophies, and this had the potential to throw up some real nightmare scenarios with the track record Assassin's Creed games hold with collectibles coupled with the vastness and depth of this big open world setting.

Moving around it is one thing, but when you add in tombs and pyramids with complex networks, big underwater environments and densely populated cities, I am at least thankful that Animus fragments are a thing of the past. At least for now, anyway.

This is also probably the longest amount of time I've invested in a Single Player only Assassin's Creed Platinum trophy. My save file clocked in at 69 hours and 52 minutes once I'd unlocked the final trophy, and that is mainly down to the high level of extra-curricular work this game makes you go through to earn every trophy on this list.

The level of time investment instantly puts it around the just below halfway mark of the difficulty scale, but this consideration also accounts for the mundaneness of the experience. The main questline makes up for around 30 hours of this total completion time, and I really enjoyed it as a gaming experience. However, the remaining 40 hours of slogging through the end-game just ticking off the same activities in some galactic-levels of content padding hurts the overall package.

Add a difficulty point for the War Elephants side quests, which are genuinely challenging, and you have a Platinum Difficulty Rating that slaps Origins bang in the middle of the scale. Fairly normal for an Assassin's Creed game.

The shift in focus to an RPG is a positive turn for the series. Some people may dislike it, but it makes you realise how dated the previous formula was, and the most important thing about change is that it's executed properly. It is for the most part here, and adapts well to the RPG makeover. It is a shame that one of the biggest things they thought they should maximise with a larger canvas was overloading on dull post-game content. There's way too much unnecessary copy and paste of the same things to do over and over. However, Ancient Egypt looks great and if you can stomach the grind, it is a manageable Platinum trophy.

Notable Trophies -

The End - Complete the last Main Quest.
Old Habits - Complete all locations.

Hardest Trophy -

Old Habits

Complete all locations.

Platinum #135 - Uncharted 4 : A Thief's End

Platinum Difficulty Rating - 5/10

By now, what you can expect an Uncharted trophy list to look like, could very well easily be listed as one of life's guarantees.

Through 4 instalments of the title, and a game that has continued to go from strength to strength throughout the years, it's a perfect example of how more things change, the more they stay the same.

Uncharted 4 : A Thief's End is the first venture into the Playstation 4 era after 3 previous appearances on the Playstation 3, as you control Nathan Drake on another quest to risk his life in the name of uncovering the hidden treasure of his ancestors.

The plot begins with Drake seemingly in retirement from his previous escapades. He has now settled down with Elena, but still in admittance of missing the thrills that come with adventure and the excitement that risking his life in the name of treasure provides. He is unexpectedly visited by his brother, Samuel, who allegedly dies in the early stages of the game during a prison break that Drake was successful in escaping from.

Samuel explains that he survived and also eventually escaped too, but his escape was aided by druglord Hector Alcazar. This was not a freebie and would come at a cost. Alcazar knew that Samuel had intel on a pirate called Henry Avery and the whereabouts of his hidden treasure, and demands that Samuel finds this treasure as payment for his escape, or face the consequences.

So naturally, he turns to Drake, his treasure hunting brother, and convinces him to scratch the adventure itch and go on a quest for the hidden treasure of Henry Avery.

The plot is fairly standard by this point, but it's easy to follow and the cast of characters that compliment it are great. Nathan Drake is still a likable main character, and he is supported by a strong cast. Sullivan and Samuel accompany Drake on his quest and their dry humour mixed with sometimes serious conversations about the perils they face is a great adventure dynamic.

On the other side, Rafe and Nadine also make for intriguing protagonists - Rafe was present with Drake and Sam in the prison break, and his active decision to leave Sam for dead adds great revenge vibes to the plot. Rafe has enlisted help from Nadine to track down the same treasure to paint a clear picture that there is competition for this prize and heightens the element of jeopardy for Drake's journey.

The gameplay hasn't ever changed though, and remains the same here. Snappy and responsive melee controls combined with solid gunplay mechanics make for excellent combat scenarios, and the pacing of the game is as erratic as ever. 

Uncharted is mostly known for it's brilliant set pieces and they are standout again here. You go from perilously platforming the face of a cliff, to sneaking through guarded jungles, to solving a clock tower puzzle, to a chase sequence on the back of an armoured car, to fighting through a shipwreck in an abandoned cave. The production value and sheer explosiveness of these scenes is some of the best you'll see in any game, and they're no exception in Uncharted 4.

The graphics also excel in every way possible, and the attention to detail is superb. Environments are colourfully vibrant and full of life, weather effects pop off the screen and the cinematics look like Hollywood blockbusters. The graphical power of Uncharted has always been it's strongest suit, and this remains the case in Uncharted 4. 

The trophy list is the largest it's been for any Uncharted title, with 56 trophies in total, including the Platinum trophy.

The "Charted! - Crushing" trophy, awarded for Completing the game in crushing mode, is a staple of this series, and returns for the fourth consecutive instalment. I said in the Uncharted 3 review that Crushing mode isn't what it used to be, and the challenge had been notably lowered since the first 2 games. So, with that said, how does it stack up here? Probably somewhere inbetween in all honesty. The combat-centric parts of this game can be hellacious, as enemies spam grenades at you behind cover and, in a bizarre gameplay decision, the developers took out the mechanic that allows you to throw them back. 

However, there's a much bigger emphasis on stealth than there has been previously, which can help you get through some larger portions of the game unscathed. This is still frequently an all guns blazing action adventure, and some of these spots have the potential to cause you problems if you don't tackle them properly. In the earlier Uncharted titles, you had no choice but to gun your way through these segments, and the development of stealth gives you a viable route away from gunfights. It's still just as easy to die compared to how it was before, but your options are no longer limited to just throwing up a prayer and getting by with trial and error - But it will still kick your ass if you give it a chance to.

As was the same in Uncharted 3, you also have the option to play the game in Crushing mode straight off the bat. Before Uncharted 3, you had to beat the game to unlock it, and the main reason I opted to go straight in for Crushing difficulty was due to the fact there are trophies in this list tied to playing through the game with other goals attached to them. Checkpoints are generously scattered across the 22 chapters, and you can beat this game on Crushing mode in around 20-25 hours, depending on personal experience.

For beating the game on Crushing difficulty, you'll unlock an additional 4 trophies for a difficulty stack of 4 other lesser difficulty levels.

Technically, you could beat this game in just one playthrough, now that it isn't a mandated requirement to unlock Crushing, and there is probably someone out there that has beaten this game in Crushing mode, with a 70% shot accuracy rating and all in under 6 hours, but that someone isn't me.

The "Sharpshooter" trophy, awarded for Completing the game with 70% shot accuracy or higher, makes it's debut in an Uncharted title. This is simply a test of in-game management, and 70% is a high threshold for such a trophy.

You'll need to make sure you're monitoring this religiously, and the statistics screen can be pulled up within the pause menu at any time, allowing you to check your shot accuracy percentage as you progress through the game. This is the key point to acknowledge here - A really crucial tool. This trophy would be significantly harder to earn if this was not present, and you were playing through the game blind to this statistic.

The key here is to avoid automatic weapons. Their high rate of fire can seriously affect your shot accuracy, and in turn, significantly hurt the percentage of shots that hit their target. It is fundamental to stick to single shot handguns, rifles and snipers and remain disciplined to this throughout the entire playthrough.

The reason I wouldn't recommend going for this trophy in tandem with Crushing mode is purely because Crushing mode is way too brutal to limit your arsenal to single shot weapons. This will significantly handicap you in combat-centric situations that may rely on automatic weaponry to get you out of.

There will be a certain margin of error that will allow for correction of your accuracy, should you need it, but you'll also reach a point in the game where you won't be able to claw this back if you're not careful and end up falling too far behind. I would also recommend using stealth wherever possible to bypass portions of the game that can also be handled with gunfights.

Finally, you can play through this trophy on a lower difficulty level. If you choose Explorer, which is the easiest difficulty, lock on aim is enabled as standard. This means the majority of your shots should land but you'll need to be sure that you're not over-firing once you finish an enemy. If you keep a constant eye on the statistics screen, you should be OK.

Outside of this, there isn't anything else notable here. There is a Speedrun trophy, also making it's Uncharted debut, awarded for beating the game in under 6 hours. I've recently earned The Evil Within Platinum trophy, which also contained a Speedrun trophy, and this just reinforced my dislike for them. I personally don't see much satisfaction in attempting to beat a game within specific time constraints, and although it can be realistically achieved within one sitting, it's not something I consider a satisfying experience.

Uncharted is no stranger to collectibles, mainly treasures, and there are 9 trophies awarded for collecting a variety of collectibles scattered throughout the game. In addition to 109 treasures, there are now also a host of new types of collectibles to also obtain throughout the game. These include 25 journal entries, 23 journal notes and 36 optional conversations - A total of 193 collectibles. They're no different to any standard collectible venture. You'll need a guide and they're very missable, but you can use Chapter Select to go back through to grab anything you may have missed and every collectible listed above is tracked for each chapter, so it's very easy to know which ones you're missing if necessary.

There are also 5 online trophies present within this list, denying it from being a purely Single Player experience. I did manage to get all of these within a single sitting, and they give off the impression that they're mainly there to encourage interaction within the Multiplayer element of the game. They're nothing compared to what comes later from the experience the Survival Mode DLC brings, but that's already been covered separately. 

One final thing to mention; The game now incorporates an Encounter Select option, as well as a Chapter Select option. There are alot of trophies in this list for completing Chapter-specific tasks, or require some extent of kill-farming, and Encounter select allows you to pinpoint very specific stages in the game you can replay at will. This is a great addition for grabbing any of these trophies because you don't have to play through entire chapters in order to reach the point you need to reach for the opportunity to earn the trophy. It's an excellent feature.

Ultimately, I feel like somewhere in-between on the variance scale of Uncharted games is where Uncharted 4 should land. Crushing difficulty became notorious in the first couple of games, but it slightly drops off a bit in comparison here. It isn't as easy as Uncharted 3, mainly because of the heavier emphasis on stealth, which will allow you to surpass gunfights if you want to. This approach will give you a reprieve that did not exist in previous titles.

The forced combat segments on Crushing will still give you a hard time though, and the newly introduced Accuracy and Speedrun trophies re-instate a necessity for multiple playthroughs of the game for the majority of players, despite the ability to choose Crushing difficulty from the outset.

The rest is fairly easy, and the game provides significant support to the player when it comes to tracking trophies. A comprehensive statistics menu that provides totals for cumulative-based trophies, clear signposting of collectibles in the chapter select menu and the ability to pick up from very specific parts of the game through Encounter select to aid in minimising unnecessary replay.

It's around a 40-50 hour Platinum, which is possibly one of the lengthiest Uncharted games to date, but it's fair, balanced and supportive. 

Notable Trophies -

Charted! - Crushing - Complete the game in crushing mode.
Sharpshooter - Complete game with 70% or higher shot accuracy.

Hardest Trophy -

Charted! - Crushing

Complete the game in crushing mode.

DLC #189 - The Evil Within - The Executioner

If you told me we'd be treated to a piece of DLC from The Evil Within that allowed us to play as the Keeper - A spiked-hammer wielding juggernaut who uses brute force to dispatch foes - You'd have good reasons to feel intrigued.

It was a premise that was mildly fascinating before I knew anything about the actual content within, and despite having a couple of sturdy hands to play, it sadly falls a little bit flat for a few reasons.

Set within the Victoriano Estate, you control the Keeper, an enemy from the main game who you frequently encounter throughout. The very loose story is based around tracking down your daughter, who is lost in the STEM and is calling for help to be saved. This is unrelated to the first 2 DLC packs, so the story is completely standalone.

The plot is very explicit in it's lore. A number of test subjects occupying the STEM are holding the Keeper's daughter back, and the only way to free her is to go round various rooms within the Victoriano Estate killing these subjects - Which turn out to just be regurgitations of various characters and bosses from the main game.

It effectively just boils down to being a gauntlet mode. You progress through the environment slaughtering enemies until you reach the end, and that's pretty much it. The lack of depth is very obvious and it's about as linear of an experience you'll get.

You can find a little bit of additional novelty through being able to earn memory tokens from defeating enemies. These are used to unlock different weapons, of which there is a healthy selection. However, tactically, all I found myself doing was upgrading the hammer to the highest damage level and wailing on every enemy that stood in my way, so the game does a poor job of promoting the arsenal it provides you. The only reason I had to use anything else was to fulfil some of the Torment requirements, tied to a separate trophy which requires you to fulfil each of the 18 different Torments.

The handling of the Keeper also leaves a bit to be desired. I don't expect him to be fluid. He's a big, clunky character by nature, but the movement feels overly sluggish and combat is very basic. You have a single attack button to use your equipped primary weapon, and you can also use a dash attack, but it feels like every fight you get into is reduced to dumbed down, button mashing thanks to the limited move set. I just didn't find it that compelling or fun.

There are 10 trophies available, which I earned across 3 separate playthroughs of the episode. You will need an initial, casual playthrough, which serves 2 main purposes.

Firstly, the "I Might Close Early" trophy, awarded for Purchasing all items in the Shop, requires a fairly large sum of memory tokens that will need to be accumulated across multiple playthroughs in order to unlock all 10 available weapons. This includes a couple of rewards which can only be purchased in New Game+ mode.

Secondly, you'll need to unlock New Game+ mode for the purpose of a couple of other trophies. The "Cruel and Unusual" trophy, awarded for Completing all Torments is one of these. Torments are specific challenges you can fulfil alongside natural progression and Torment 18 requires you to beat the final hidden execution chamber, which is only available in New Game+ mode.

Further to this, there's also a hidden trophy for opening up a secret portal to a special boss battle, which is also exclusive to New Game+ mode.

The third and final playthrough was reserved for the "I've Got Box of Steel" trophy, awarded for Clearing The Executioner without taking any damage. On paper, this reads like it should be fairly challenging, but there are a couple of things to be aware of that can make this task much less troublesome.

The most important point is the fact that, any time you take damage from an enemy, you can just reload your most recent save point, and this won't negate progress towards the trophy. You can easily clear with trophy within 30 minutes, so your last save point will never be too far back.

The winning tactic is to just load up the rocket launcher and kill everything with a small handful of rockets. It makes light work of most bosses you'll encounter. The rocket launcher also allows you to dispatch enemies whilst maintaining a safe distance at all times and you'll also be able to take full advantage of the unlimited ammunition unlock, since you've beaten the mode a couple of times already. Load it up, spam the rockets without worrying about running out of ammo and it's a fairly fool proof method when you run it this way.

You are also allowed to bypass hidden execution chambers. If the trophy required you to clear these without taking damage too, we would have a significantly harder challenge on our hands, but this is not the case. It only took me 26 minutes and 57 seconds to run through the whole episode without taking any damage using this method.

With 3 playthroughs, this brings together a total completion time of around 4-5 hours. I definitely preferred the story-driven DLC. This just felt a little bit token and, despite being an interesting idea, just got in it's own way a bit with the execution. At least it was an easy completion though.

DLC #188 - The Evil Within - The Consequence

I really dislike that feeling of coming away from story-driven games that make you feel like you've taken one step forward and another step back when it comes to the closure of a plotline.

All the answers I've been dying to find across both story-based DLC packs for The Evil Within are ultimately found in The Consequence but they come at the expense of new questions that pop up in their place.

Do we get a reasonable conclusion to Juli Kidman's role in the plot? Yes. Is there substantial development on the significance of other characters such as Ruvik and Leslie? Yes. Do the introductions of newer protagonists make sense? Yes.

By those metrics, it's a resounding success, but it also couldn't help itself but to leave a few extra carrots dangling out at the conclusion of the DLC that leave the story open-ended and up for further speculation. I know there's a sequel to the game, and that should make me both naturally intrigued and not terribly surprised at the same time, but after a full title and 2 pieces of DLC content, I'd like to believe that's enough to at least see some sort of true ending. It's a touch disappointing, and as usual, I won't delve any deeper for spoiler purposes. It was still a fun ride that was well worth the time investment, despite the frustrations of a cloudy conclusion.

The trophies also follow the exact same format for this episode as they did for The Assignment, so there isn't a whole lot to elaborate on.

You'll be able to unlock 6 of the 10 trophies on offer through completing the additional 2 chapters, along with the 4 chapter-specific trophies that come with this - These are much more cryptic in comparison to those in the Assignment, and I did have to look up the solutions to a couple of them, to make sure I grabbed them on my Kurayami run of the episode. They're not difficult, but I would probably never have worked them out without a bit of guidance.

The gameplay is mostly the same, which makes sense for a piece of DLC that is a part 2 continuation, but there are a couple of noticeable shifts.

The flashlight is a big focus within the Assignment, and it still is here, but there's a segment at the very beginning where you lose it and have to navigate a maze in order to reach a generator switch to restore power. You're given access to glow sticks instead, which you can toss around to help light the way. It's a small change, but I felt it was a nice way to maintain the freshness of the experience.

There's also a return to combat within the Consequence too, with Kidman being provided access to a firearm during a couple of segments throughout the episode. Again, a good change of pace to keep things fresh, and it's nice to be able to call upon some combat gameplay, which I always maintained was a strong suit of the game.

Again, there are 3 trophies awarded for gathering the collectibles throughout the episode. These include 3 Personal Files, 8 Research Documents and 8 Letter Scraps, all of which are scattered out throughout the 2 chapters. Letter Scraps are collected in the same way again, obtained through solving the puzzle on a Keeper box and then using the 8 scraps to piece together a hidden note.

Finally, another run of completing the game in Kurayami mode is required under the same conditions as before. It actually seems like there's a much greater reliance on light sources here than there was in the Assignment. I think it's because you have more combat-heavy segments in the Consequence, and fighting off hordes of enemies in pitch darkness is a tricky case of alternating between reloading your gun and flicking on your flashlight to make sure you're tracking enemies and not missing too many of your shots.

I actually think they missed a trick by making Kurayami mode New Game+ content, rather than being available from the outset. Navigating an environment in pitch darkness with just a flashlight is a great premise for a Survival Horror experience - but not so much when you already know what's coming because you had to play through it once in order to unlock it. It would have been great to be able to play the episode in Kurayami mode straight off the bat, and properly experience that extra level of fear that comes with the unknown of darkness.

It's a slightly shorter experience than before, clocking in at around 4-5 hours. Some of that may be down to the experience of knowing what to do to tackle the exact same set of trophies replicated from the Assignment, which always makes planning and strategy easier.

"Where Do We Go From Here?" - Awarded for Clearing Chapter 4, "A Ghost is Born". Should have seen another cliffhanger ending coming.

DLC #187 - The Evil Within - The Assignment

In my Platinum Difficulty write-up of the Evil Within, I eluded to my feelings on a story that didn't provide much clarity, and more specifically, the roles of certain secondary characters and their relation to the overarching plot.

One of these characters was Detective Juli Kidman, and to take a direct extract from the Platinum Difficulty Review - "Leslie is a patient at the hospital, and possibly of interest to Ruvik as a direct vessel back into a human form, but Kidman, who is a colleague of Sebastian, also takes an interest in Leslie for reasons I couldn't really fathom."

It was my hope that the DLC would provide answers to these questions that remained, so I suppose the burning question is - Does it?

Sort of, and given the fact this is part 1 of a 2 part DLC offering, I have to give the benefit of the doubt for now.

The Assignment focuses on the role and back story of Detective Juli Kidman, who it turns out is also an undercover agent for a sinister organisation called Mobius, tasking her with the capture of Leslie Withers for the benefit of their own research. Some of the lore you discover within the episode suggests that Kidman isn't necessarily a fully willing participant, and is being held to this task against her will. The suggestion is that the assignment to capture Leslie for Mobius is possibly a trade-off to keep her out of trouble for an unknown misdemeanour with the law.

The setting looks to be mainly within an underground research facility. Deformed enemies - with characteristics akin to the by-product of experimentation and laboratory-esque environments point heavily to this, but it's also interwoven with segments from the main story that show Sebastian and Joseph in parallel movements to Kidman, frequently merging their paths throughout the episode. It's a little confusing how it's all linked together at some points but at least there's a bit of clarity on Kidman's role to the overall story and her motivation for Leslie.

The gameplay is also significantly different to the action-centric nature of the main game. Kidman is a stealth-based character, and does not possess the ability of a firearm. Instead, you'll have to rely on pure stealth to bypass enemies, and the best you get in your arsenal is a flashlight that helps guide the way. It also has a special "focus" ability, which allows you to shine the light intensely on certain surfaces to reveal hidden rooms, secret passages and solve environmental puzzles.

I didn't expect such a drastic change of pace, but I was fully engaged and the added vulnerability of Kidman's stealth-only approach definitely feels like more of a true survival horror experience.

There are also 10 new trophies to unlock, which are nowhere near the lofty heights of the main game in terms of difficulty or challenge.

Completing the episode's 2 chapters once on any difficulty, which will take you around 3-4 hours, can score you as many as 9 of the 10 trophies on offer here.

There are 6 progression-based trophies in total - 2 awarded for beating each chapter and a further 4 for completing a series of chapter-specific tasks, exactly the same as seen within the main game's trophy list. Some of these contained within the main game are fairly cryptic, whereas these tasks here are a bit more obvious in their exact requirements. By that I mean I didn't need to reference a guide for any of them, and it was extremely clear at which point within the Chapter you could obtain a particular trophy.

There are 3 trophies awarded for respectively collecting all 3 Personal Documents, 8 Research Notes and 8 Letter Scraps - The Letter Scraps also need to be arranged into the correct positions on a blank template in order to piece together the letter to reveal the secret behind the note. Most of the collectibles are just found scattered around the environment, but the Letter Scraps are locked up behind Seeker boxes which are tied to a puzzle. Beat the puzzle to unlock the box and obtain the Letter Scrap. It's a clever twist on collectibles, that can often be a dull exercise, especially after having just collected 151 of them in the main list.

The final trophy can only be obtained on a second playthrough of the episode once you unlock Kurayami mode.

The initial sinking feeling in my gut was that this was some sort of variation on AKUMU from the main game, but that thankfully doesn't turn out to be true. In Kurayami mode, the environment is plunged into total darkness, with no natural light sources to assist your progress, thus amplifying the importance of the flashlight.

The combat technique is very simple - If you follow the episode up again straight away, you'll have a very fresh recollection of everything you've just played through, and this makes it significantly easier to navigate the environment - Even in pitch black darkness. I actually finished Kurayami mode over an hour quicker than my initial playthrough, and this is attributed to the above. There's not even an increase in difficulty, enemy awareness or damage you receive from hits. It actually feels more like a gimmicky add-on to pad a bit of replayability more than anything else, leading to an easy completion somewhere within the region of 5-6 total hours.

Let's see if the final part answers our questions...

Platinum #134 - The Evil Within

Platinum Difficulty Rating - 9/10

When it comes to Survival Horror, it's a good job the Evil Within is really good.

If a game is going to demand that you play through it 5/6 times to earn it's Platinum trophy, it has to back itself to be good enough to warrant this.

I would actually go as far to suggest that I think it's my favourite game within the whole genre. It's immersive, scary, violent and unnerving, and these are a critical blend of elements that some games just don't always get right.

You control Sebastian Castellanos, a detective who is called to a disturbance at Beacon Mental hospital - A facility for the psychologically ill. Upon arrival, numerous people are dead, seemingly at the hands of suspicious forces, when a few key developments quickly unfold that seem to point to a very unordinary situation.

Whilst attempting to escape from the hospital, a huge, unnatural earthquake occurs and causes the ambulance Sebastian and his colleagues are fleeing in to crash. It's apparent something Evil is engulfing Krimson City, and Sebastian is left to help prevent this evil from spreading throughout the city and beyond.

Even after having played through this game a number of times, the plot is still fairly confusing. Without wanting to give too much away, the main evil stems from a character called Ruvik, who you uncover flashbacks of from his mistreated youth as you progress the story - horribly burnt alive in a barn fire, and then hidden away by his father to conceal his disfigurement from the rest of the world. The motive seems to be very much revenge-driven, but the links to Sebastian aren't really made that clear. He could just have been in the wrong place at the wrong time when he was called to investigate the story, but he seems to actively pursue Ruvik fairly aggressively for someone who just happened to respond to the wrong call.

There are other questions I felt were left unanswered, mainly around the roles of other key characters, such as Leslie, Dr. Jiminez and Kidman. Leslie is a patient at the hospital, and possibly of interest to Ruvik as a direct vessel back into a human form, but Kidman, who is a colleague of Sebastian, also takes an interest in Leslie for reasons I couldn't really fathom. I think Dr. Jiminez's role is just purely protectorate of Leslie, but he mentions his own research alot, so there could also be ulterior motives at play for which Leslie is a key component of.

It's possible the story-driven DLC answers a few of these questions further, and there's alot of generally crazy things happening throughout the game which make you question whether it's all just pure fiction being played out in Sebastian's constantly deteriorating mental state. This could be deliberate as the game playing up to it's Survival Horror billing.

I wouldn't go as far to say it's a weak point of the game, and there is always an intriguing mystery to drawing your own conclusions - but there were just a few too many blanks for me, and I don't like finishing stories to games where there feels like more questions than answers.

There are 42 trophies on offer here in total, including the Platinum, spanning across the Single Player experience. There are no additional or Multiplayer modes, meaning you're left to purely battle through the story in conjunction with the entire list.

The "Master of Horror" trophy, awarded for Completing the game on Nightmare difficulty, is the standard offering amongst a list that requires you to beat the game under multiple conditions. Nightmare difficulty will have to be unlocked by beating the game just once any difficulty level and a standard playthrough of the story will take around 20 hours in total. It's really important to accumulate gel wherever you can, as well as any hidden keys for storage lockers - This will be made clearer for another trophy regarding the upgrade of weapons and abilities.

I really like the way the game plays. Combat is punchy and engaging, the weapons are varied and fun to use and the creative design of the enemies is excellent, particularly the multitude of bosses you'll face across the course of the game. The music composition also deserves a mention, capturing the mood perfectly with a piano score, which always turns up at certain points of the game in an ominious fashion.

Environments are atmospheric, eerie and they always make you feel on edge. The game isn't big on jump scares, but I think that's a testament to the game that it doesn't need a load of cheap jump scares to make you feel like you're always wary of what's around the next corner. It's a really well-rounded game, and a credit to the Survival Horror genre.

I've briefly touched on it already, but the trophy list will require you to beat the game in a variety of different ways, and some roadmaps I've seen state you can earn every trophy within a minimum requirement of 3 playthroughs. I am a little bit sceptical of this, and I personally ended up playing through the game 5 times on my route towards the Platinum trophy.

There's a Speedrun required, a playthrough on the game's hardest difficulty and a run without purchasing any upgrades using gel - All of this on top of a bunch of collectibles, some of which can only be collected in New Game+, as well as gathering a huge of amount of upgrade gel in order to max out all weapons and abilities. I just don't see how you can have all this done in just 3 playthroughs, especially when you also account for the fact that you have to beat the game once just to unlock Nightmare and Akumu difficulty.

With an average completion time of around 20 hours per run, this builds up to being a dizzying cumulative total. Granted, the speedrun requires you to beat the game within just 5 hours, but my Akumu run was 30 hours, so it still averages out.

The "You Asked For It" trophy, awarded for Finishing the game on (AKUMU) mode, is by the far the biggest challenge in this entire list, and the high difficulty rating is largely in part to the existence of this trophy.

As mentioned, AKUMU mode will need to be unlocked first by beating the game once on Survivor difficulty, and it's definitely for the best that you obtain an understanding of the game before tackling AKUMU mode.

Enemies are faster and tougher, everything kills you in a single hit - this proves to problematic in a multitude of instances - and you cannot play AKUMU mode within New Game+, which means you'll have to start afresh with no access to upgraded abilities or weapons. Even though there's no limit to the amount times you can die, it really heightens the sense of Survival Horror when you're attempting to earn this trophy knowing you're in genuine jeopardy with each step you take.

Well concealed bear traps, projectiles, tripwires, gunfire, bombs and even being grappled from close range - When you can die this easily, it's no wonder I finished this mode with a whopping total of 641 deaths and an exact completion time of 29 hours, 41 minutes and 1 second - That's almost 10 hours over the average playtime of a regular playthrough.

Outside of the annoyingly flukey, there's also the downright tough to swallow. Boss fights come at you thick and fast in the Evil Within, and without the ability to carry over your upgrades and weapons, these are difficult fights to get past in some instances. Chapter 6 goes down in Evil Within folklore thanks to it's holdout segments where you're desperately fighting off hordes whilst Joseph unlocks a door in 2 consecutive rooms and Chapter 12 had me stuck for half a day as I tried to get round the machine gunner segment just after you retrieve the medicine from the ambulance.

It's not a permadeath mode though, and checkpoints aren't impacted by the challenge, meaning they stay at exactly the same points as they do under normal circumstances, which is a comforting safety blanket. However, strategy is an extremely important factor because you'll have limited upgrade potential, so it's critical to choose carefully on your upgrades.

For instance, due to the one-hit nature of AKUMU mode, it's pointless spending upgrade gel on your HP or Syringe effectiveness. Instead, you'll want to plug it into your stamina, as you'll no doubt need to be able to outrun your enemies on a handful of occasions throughout the game. I also found the Shotgun and Shock Bolts critical to upgrade, as they're both very effective at dealing with larger groups of enemies that can overwhelm you if you don't have that crowd control option.

It is also worth upgrading the Revolver early too, just to have something else outside of the Shotgun that packs a punch and can help you deal with isolated fights, such as those with larger enemies and bosses. The Sniper Rifle is also a good option, but this is acquired very late on in the game, making it much less viable in comparison.

Despite there being a clear element of strategy, determination is required in equal measure. To be expected to beat a challenge that extends the game by around 10 hours compared to normal average completion time and over 600 deaths is not a normal requirement. It's challenging, frustrating and the specific parts I mentioned above had me give in and come back fresh for another go once I'd slept it off.

It's rare to see individual trophies swing the difficulty rating of a game so drastically on their own, but I am of the belief that AKUMU mode does just this.

The other bespoke run-throughs aren't really notable. Beating the game without using any upgrade gel was something I was able to tandem with beating the game on Nightmare difficulty and Speedrunning the game by beating it in less than 5 hours was also fairly trouble-free. It helps significantly that you can run this on Casual difficulty in New Game+ though, thus making light work of practically every enemy you encounter. I'm not really a fan of speedrun trophies. I feel like they detract from the experience, but it was still beneficial for the purpose of collecting the outstanding upgrade gel required. Speaking of which, there is an overarching task that is worth mentioning that ties all of this together.

The "Unstoppable Arsenal" trophy, awarded for Completely upgrading all weapons, requires you to collect enough upgrade gel to maximise every weapon in the game, and this is a seismic task. Gel is gathered from fallen enemies, found within the natural environment and can also be obtained from hidden keys, which are used to open lockers within the Hospital safe area, though it is not always a guarantee that a locker will grant gel - It can contain other items such as ammunition and bolts.

To put this task into context, upgrading each of the 5 primary weapons, including the Agony Crossbow, requires 738,000 upgrade gel. Further to this, there are separate trophies awarded for upgrading all of Sebastian's abilities and his stock capacity, and when you add this on top, the total amount of gel required is a whopping 952,300.

When I mentioned at the top of this piece that it's important to gather as much gel as possible as early as you can, this is the reason why. The benefit of multiple playthroughs really comes to the fore, as you can accumulate this across your various playthroughs of the game - Even the playthrough for not spending any gel, because you can still accumulate it and spend it on a later run instead. You won't be able to do this for AKUMU though.

This is just a pure grind, though you do have the option to use Chapter Select and farm gel from certain hotspots within the game, which may make it easier, but with the amount of required playthroughs, you shouldn't need to do this. 

It is a little bit annoying how much gel is required to fully upgrade everything. Each component of a weapon has 5 levels you can upgrade, whether this be ammo capacity, reload time, fire rate etc. and my main gripe is how sudden the jump is for some of these. For example, the 1st level of Damage for the Magnum costs 8,000 gel, the 4th level of Damage costs 18,000 gel, and the 5th level then costs 35,000 gel, so the increments in scaling are very random and the jumps are unnecessarily large - It stinks of longevity padding and there's no logical reasoning for why it takes so long to upgrade everything to maximum level. It was one of the last trophies I'd obtained, right before I completed my final run of the whole game.

Outside of this, the remainder of the trophies are fairly standard. There are 18 trophies awarded for natural story progression and chapter specific tasks, which is close to half of the entire list. Stackable difficulty, weapon-related and kill accumulation trophies also make up the rest.

Collectibles are also present here too (When are they not?), but they're not too bad. There's a fairly high volume at 151 in total, and some of them are only available in New Game+, which is something to make note of because it can be easy to miss a few if you're unsure as to when you can obtain them.

Without AKUMU mode, The Evil Within probably comes in at around 6/10. I do genuinely believe that the presence of such a challenge makes that much of a difference to the difficulty presented by the list. The amount of additional playthroughs also makes it somewhat grindy, and whilst I did really enjoy this game, having to beat it 5 times in total is the primary reason it's taken so long to earn this Platinum trophy. 

Combining all runs of the game probably amasses to somewhere in the region of 80-100 hours, which is a lot of time for a game that contains just one game mode. The colossal grind for maxing out all abilities and upgrades effectively goes hand in hand with the required number of playthroughs, which also matters, but the rating is mostly a show of respect for one of the toughest modes of any game I've played.

Notable Trophies -

Master of Horror - Complete the game on Nightmare difficulty.
You Asked For It - Finish the game on AKUMU mode.
Unstoppable Arsenal - Completely upgrade all weapons.

Hardest Trophy -

You Asked For It

Finish the game on AKUMU mode

DLC #186 - Hitman 3 - Hitman

I'll do my best to try and make this less confusing than the title suggests.

Hitman has graced the collection numerous times over the years, and it's actually become more difficult to track the chronology of the series than you may expect. It's a series that's seen reboots, HD collections and expansions galore, and contained within the latest Hitman game - Which is Hitman 3 on the PS5, there are a series of DLC packs that allow you to replay the earliest titles in the Hitman series.

I've beaten Hitman 3, but before going back through for the Platinum trophy, it made more sense to return to where it all began with the Hitman DLC, which allows you to relive the entire first game in the whole Hitman series, which, from what I can tell amongst all the clutter, has never been done previously.

That's exactly what this content is. It doesn't really require an elaborate preface. The 6 levels that made up the original Hitman title are available to play through all over again as part of this DLC pack. They've been given the Hitman 3 facelift though, with challenges, mission stories and level mastery all allowing you to play through the game in ways you simply wouldn't have been able to back when Hitman was released on the Playstation 1 at the turn of the Millennium.

I did play the very first Hitman game, but I don't really remember much of it, and even this rush of nostalgia still left me trying to piece together the memories in my head. That's not always a bad thing though, and fresh experiences from old games can still be a blast to play through when you don't recall what's coming, and that's exactly what Hitman was. The story is fairly short and doesn't victimise itself with unnecessarily long-winded and complicated cinematics in the same way that some games do. It's very easy to follow and understand, and it's all tied together by the strongest suit of any Hitman game - It's cleverly crafted and creative levels.

Hitman's 6 levels take you through France, Italy, Morocco, Thailand, the USA and Japan - Assassinating plenty of targets along the way.

There are also 13 trophies on offer, and these can be broken down in very simple fashion. There are 6 trophies awarded for beating each of the 6 levels once, and a further 6 trophies for achieving Mastery of each level.

Level Mastery is a new concept introduced to Hitman within the main game, and is also applied to all subsequent DLC content. Each level comes with a range of different accomplishments, broken down into the following sub-headings; Assassination, Challenges, Discovery and Feats.

Each of these sub-sections will contain a variety of tasks, which, when completed, will contribute experience points that go towards levelling up the Mastery of a level. Once you reach level 20, you'll unlock the Mastery trophy relevant to that level.

Reaching Mastery level 20 isn't exactly difficult. It will require you to play through levels multiple times, ensuring that you're assassinating targets in different ways in accordance to the requirements set out within the menu, as well and ensuring you go round the map unlocking as many additional challenges simultaneously as you can. There is a certain level of tactful thinking required as you plan how you're going to go about each run of a mission in an attempt to complete as many challenges as possible during any given run, and it's a very effective method of adding replay value to the game.

It does get a little bit tedious eventually, but I do really enjoy how the Level Mastery trophies maximise the necessity to explore the environment and it was a joy to seemingly uncover new things every time you reloaded a level. New kill methods, previously hidden locations, little Easter Eggs. It all combines to prolong the fun and it genuinely feels like a beneficial learning experience, rather than just another tedious grind designed to draw out replayability. However, it is also responsible for my biggest gripe with the whole game - The Missions Stories.

Mission Stories are scattered around every level. They're a very specific timeline of events, triggered when you're within close enough proximity of their starting location. They'll tell you exactly where you need to go and what you need to do, with the outcome usually setting you up with a final scenario which opens up the opportunity to kill a target.

Hitman purists will hate this feature because it completely strips away the essence that Hitman is built on - Intuition. The mystery of figuring out every step yourself towards the ultimate satisfaction of killing a target knowing that you worked out exactly what to do all on your own accord, is where the real sense of achievement comes from. Completing Mission Stories awards experience that goes towards Level Mastery, so trophy hunters will have to view them as a necessary evil to progress. 

I don't completely dislike the idea, but I think they're way too generous in the information they provide, to the point where most Mission Stories will literally walk you through every step towards gaining direct access to your target, where the only thing it won't do for you is pull the trigger.

Some of the challenges come with redacted requirements, with just a name and a picture to help you work out the rest for those that want the balance of intuition, and you will need to beat the majority of the tasks to fully Master a level, so the purist experience isn't completely left out in the cold.

For me, it was simply a case of beating the game once to unlock the 6 progression trophies, and going back over each individual level to earn Mastery in order to unlock the 6 Mastery trophies. It's a very straight-forward process.

There is still a final trophy to declare, which is awarded for Completing Suit Only and Silent Assassin Challenges on The Icon, A House Built on Sand or Landslide. These 3 levels come as bonus missions to Hitman, and are objectives set on smaller scale variations of some locations within the main story.

Suit Only and Silent Assassin require you to assassinate the target(s) without being spotted, no bodies being found, removing the target(s) only and doing it all in Agent 47's suit with no disguise change. This can be a challenging feat within the main game, where the levels are bigger and require more steps to completion, but the bitesize levels in relation to this trophy make it a little bit easier.

Plus, you have the flexibility to choose a preference from 3 different levels. I chose the Icon, which is the first one, and didn't see the necessity to switch at any point. It helps that I already knew Sapienza quite well from the second mission within the main game, so used this intel to my advantage. I managed to beat the task within an hour, which turns out to be one of the lighter tasks in this package thanks to the fairly lengthy level Mastery.

It's not a brief experience, with reaching level 20 for all 6 story missions requiring a thorough playthrough of the whole game, but it never really feels terribly grindy, and turns out to be one of the more effective ways of padding a game's replayability. It helps that's it Hitman too, which is, and always has been, great fun.

DLC #185 - Cuphead - The Delicious Last Course 2

Question : When is a Delicious Last Course not actually a "Last Course"?

Answer : When a game, for whatever reason, splits some DLC content in half and creates 2 separate trophy lists for it.

The second part of Cuphead's Delicious Last Course includes just 2 additional trophies, both of which are awarded for a couple of very specific tasks.

There's nothing to preface about the content itself. This is simply an extension of a couple of Easter Eggs that can be found within Inkwell Isle IV, and will award you with a couple of trophies for your troubles.

The "A Horrible Night To Have a Curse" trophy, awarded for Surviving the nightmare, is achieved with a very specific set of steps, and will lead you directly into the other trophy within the list.

The Inkwell Isle IV map contains a graveyard with a series of tombstones lined up next to each other. You can interact with each tombstone, and if you do so in a certain order, you'll unlock a secret boss battle - The Angel and Demon. It's not a difficult fight, and once you defeat them, you'll earn a new charm - The Cursed Relic.

This is where things get a little bit trickier;

Paladin - Obtain great power.

The "Paladin" trophy, awarded for obtaining great power, requires you to upgrade the Cursed Relic to the Divine Relic.

The first thing you'll need to do is make sure the Cursed Relic is actively equipped into your charm slot. Once this is done, the Cursed Relic will be in your loadout at all times, and in order to fully upgrade it to the Divine Relic, you'll need to go back through and beat a certain number of boss fights over again with the Cursed Relic equipped, effectively levelling it up.

However, there are a couple of things to be aware of about the Cursed Relic.

Firstly, it will reduce your HP to just 1 from the outset of any fight. Secondly, your weapon choices are determined by a randomly changing, cyclical order. Each time you perform an action that involves dashing, parrying or if you stop firing your current weapon, your loadout will randomly cycle to the next weapon - and this will also be randomly selected. This point of note is the real game-changer here.

My initial plan of attack was to simply start from the beginning of Inkwell Isle IV, and go back through each of the boss fights I'd most recently tackled. They were still fresh in my memory from the first DLC pack so I still knew what to expect in terms of attack patterns and the different phases of the fight. It seemed like a sound strategy on paper, but I really struggled to make the adjustment to the randomly changing weapons the Cursed Relic bestows upon you, and I felt completely lost without the ability to tailor my weaponry to suit the strategy of the fight I was about to have.

I began this venture by going through an entire day without even beating the first boss, so I turned away for guidance and found some helpful background information regarding the Cursed Relic. Upgrading the Relic works off a background points-based system, whereby you need 16 points to achieve Divine status. These points are awarded for defeating any boss within the game, but each boss is assigned a specific number of points depending on their category. I could have switched back to the main game and beaten a handful of those bosses, but they awarded less points and I haven't played through them since I earned the Platinum trophy, so I felt like the learning curve would be too great compared to the more familiar DLC bosses.

I also found out that the Cursed Relic levels up in stages, whereby every time it reaches a certain number of points, it's benefits begin to strengthen. You can gain HP for successful parries, and dashing will also grant you bursts of invincibility, and picking up these snippets of information allowed me to go back and tackle this challenge equipped with some valuable knowledge.

So did I still continue to struggle? Yes. I generally fared better knowing I could accumulate HP by taking the time to parry attacks, and I slowly managed to gain an understanding of how to take a little bit of control of the erratic weapon cycles, but I still struggled to make steady progress. I just couldn't get used to how the flow of fights is constantly interrupted by the way the Cursed Relic makes your weapons cycle through the different options repeatedly. It created a challenging edge to a game that needs no such invitation to begin with.

Each victory felt like a big one, and in classic Cuphead fashion, there was nothing a bit of perseverance couldn't overcome. I did eventually get to a stage where I could master the weapon rotation a little bit, and effectively skip certain weapons that I didn't think were effective options in battle, and began to favour certain loadouts more akin to the normal strategy of planning for a boss fight with a pre-determined loadout.

It was a steeper challenge than anticipated, but perhaps could have been strategised better. I think it may have been more beneficial to re-learn some of the earlier boss fights and chip away from that angle, as this trophy took somewhere in the region of 10 hours in the end. All 5 Inkwell Isle IV main bosses beaten, with the Root Pack from Inkwell Isle I also beaten, as this would give me the single outstanding point needed to finally transform the Cursed Relic into Divine status.