We took a little break from our Gaming Respawn Plays feature last month (check out the other features we did instead here and here), but now we’re back to share what games currently have our attention. And this time, some recent releases have taken the spotlight, but we are still revisiting some older games as well. Join us for Gaming Respawn Plays (October 2025).
Peter Keen
Battlefield 6 and Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
Battlefield 6 has been everything I’ve ever wanted. It’s been keeping me up until 1:30 am on a school night playing it. In just two weeks since launch, I’ve already ploughed 74 hours into it. I judge whether or not I get value out of a game with my £1 to 1 hour metric; i.e., if I buy a game for £70, I need to get 70 hours out of it to feel like I can feel satisfied with the purchase.
I bought BF6 day one for £70. The fact I’ve already reached that £1 to 1 hour mark in two weeks gone past and have no intention of slowing down says it all to me.
At 54 years young, I’m still finding a way for the team with a 1.6 KDR pretty much exclusively as an Engineer and the occasional Medic. No sniping for me! Find them, fix them, flank them, FINISH them…works a treat 🙂 Blowing tanks up never gets old either!
I’m enjoying the grind to acquire new gear for my guns. I’ve been experimenting a lot with what works best, where, and for what map and just starting to settle down on what I like. I’m even searching online to tweak my controller settings. Just this morning, I have been looking at changing my “Zoom Sensitivity Coefficient”, for crying out loud!
I pretty much exclusively play Breakthrough Mode as you generally have an idea of the direction the enemies will be coming from in that mode. Most other modes frustrate me as I’ve lost count of the number of times I was shot in the back. When I’m feeling “sexy”, I play a little CQC Mode as there are no vehicles to worry about, just grunts and guns. It’s the mode I use to experiment most with new weapons to see what they are like.
I really want to get into playing Rush Mode like I did back in the day back with Battlefield: Bad Company 2, but Rush Mode in BF6 just doesn’t have the same feel to it. It also says a lot that the game doesn’t even have an exclusive Rush Mode playlist, like every other mode has.
I’ve also recently, for a change of pace, gone back to start over playing Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth to see if I feel any differently about it, now that I’ve played the first Ichiban game (Yakuza: Like a Dragon). I’m at Chapter 2, and so far, it’s made a huge difference in my enjoyment of the game. Also, I’m playing it with the Japanese voices as the English dub just didn’t feel right. Again, makes a big difference.
That aside though, I’m hoping BF6 keeps me quiet until the IO Interactive James Bond game is released early next year. I can’t see any reason why it wouldn’t. Right, back to blowing stuff up!
Daniel Garcia-Montes
Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection and Ninja Gaiden 4
Once again taking a break from playing Red Dead Redemption II, I dedicated this month to revisiting an older collection of games that I’ve enjoyed much in the past (though my very first playthroughs of most of these games were a little challenging and frustrating). I speak of Team Ninja’s Ninja Gaiden games, specifically Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, and Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge. I got a hold of a physical copy of the Master Collection for PS4, which collects all three of those games in one cozy yet badass little package (I’ll likely give my older PS3 copies of these games to a friend). Jumping to these crazy, fast-paced, action-packed games after trudging through the comparatively very slow and time-consuming RDR2 was just the kind of change of pace I needed for my gaming time. I can ride a horse across the country and do favors for people only so many times before I start feeling like I need to take part in something more exciting, like slicing enemies up and watching their limbs fly off with glee. These games provide me with that lovely pastime.
Replaying these games was done in preparation for the arrival of Ninja Gaiden 4. Co-developed by Team Ninja and PlatinumGames, I was expecting a lot from this title. Alas, as of this writing, I’ve only just scratched the surface and completed the first three chapters of this game. Some things took getting used to. The newer types of combos and abilities that new protagonist Yakumo possesses, like using a ninjutsu skill to change his dual swords into a longsword at will, allow him to seamlessly switch between two different fighting styles in the heat of combat. By chapter 2, I was getting more into the swing of things. This game’s sense of speed and ferocity certainly live up to the pedigree of the previous Ninja Gaiden games. I look forward to diving further into Ninja Gaiden 4 and seeing what other badassery it has in store for me.
Will Worrall
Spirit Hunter: Death Mark and Other “Horror Sh*t”
It’s October, and as a self-appointed horror aficionado, I’ve obviously been playing a bunch of horror games this month. It started out with trying out some horror/mystery game on Vita called Spirit Hunter: Death Mark.
I’ve got something of a soft-spot for mystery-based visual novels anyway, having ploughed through both Danganronpa and Zero Escape with a fervor that nearly bordered on religious, but I sort of installed this on a whim because it had a spooky name, and I actually had a good time with it.
It’s a bit echi (translation: horny) in places, but the main thrust of the gameplay is a mystery adventure game where you and several other people have been marked for death by some sort of yokai and have to track the spirit down and resolve its major regret to prevent yourself from being dragged to an early grave.
Mostly, it functions like a standard adventure game crossed with a dungeon-crawler (sans-combat). You explore a grid-based map and try to find clues as to what ghost you’re dealing with and what sort of steps might be necessary for you to free it from the mortal plane. It’s pretty decent, though I did have to Google what to do at least a few times, something I don’t remember being an issue in other mystery VNs I’ve played.
That minor blemish aside, it’s certainly a creepy game with some awesome art. It also certainly furnished me with plenty of cool Vita wallpapers thanks to some of the CGs in the game, and I at least have one more game to recommend for people who are into this relatively niche genre.
Of course, I played a bunch of other horror sh*t too, but if we talked about all of them, I’d be taking up the entire article this month.
