It’s another month, and with it comes more of us Gaming Respawners sharing what games, old and new, we’ve been playing. Join us in Gaming Respawn Plays (June 2025) to see what games have our attention and if they have yours as well.
Peter Keen
Yakuza: Like a Dragon, MLB: The Show 25, Fast Fusion, and More 
There has been a humongous smorgasbord of games released or on their first sale that I have bought and played (for a little bit) this month. There is also the small matter of a brand-new console that I got my hands on, the Switch 2, and with new consoles come new games.
Games that I’ve bought but haven’t played yet are Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Forza Horizon 5, Mario Kart World, and the Episode Aigis- The Answer story DLC for Persona 3 Reload.
What I have been playing, though, in the main are Yakuza: Like a Dragon and MLB: The Show 25 on my PS5, as well as Bakeru, Beyblade X: Xone, and Fast Fusion on my Switch 2.
The game that is dominating my attention among those is Yakuza: Like a Dragon. As I type this, I’ve just ground up my character’s levels to be over the recommended level 55 for the last chapter. I stand by my view that Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth lead character Ichiban Kasuga is not as well written in Infinite Wealth as he is in Yakuza: Like a Dragon. This game is totally winning me over. It starts off pretty rough and boring (you literally have to go get a job in-game!!), but like all the other Yakuza games I’ve played, things inevitably snowball into the criminal underworld with a vast, expansive, highly dramatic and thrilling narrative. The story and the characters shine through. So, with most of my team at level 55 or above, I’m ready for the final showdown.
To take a break from smashing people’s heads in with baseball bats (see every Yakuza game), I’m also using baseball bats for their intended purpose in baseball by playing MLB: The Show 25. Even though I’m a baseball fan and have played the game myself to a very high level (England International), I’m useless at the digital game!! I have to play the game on Beginner just to do well. If I put the game up one notch to Rookie, I get defeated far too easily.
The fun part, though, is that since the game is very deep with many modes and gameplay options, I can still play Home Run Derby online and not suck, as well as ensure my Pittsburgh Pirates do something in the “March to October” mode that they have never done in my lifetime: WIN!
Then, we have the small matter of the Switch 2. Once I’m done with Yakuza, I will be on the Switch 2 a lot more, but when I had a moment, I played two older games that struggled to cope with the Switch 1 hardware but ran more smoothly on the Switch 2. Those games are Bakeru and Beyblade X: Xone. Both run so much better on the Switch 2 with no frame rate issues, especially Bakeru.
But to see what the Switch 2 can really do, I bought Fast Fusion (under £15!!!) on the Switch store and have been hugely impressed, not just with the game but with the hardware running it. It looks and plays superbly well. It’s just a shame I’m, again, a bit rubbish at it as I’m struggling on the easiest mode! It’s most certainly a case of you need to know the tracks well and how to fuse the vehicles to get the best out of them.
I’m also itching to get back into playing Stellar Blade for a platinum push, and I also might try a platinum push for the PlayStation Vita game Uncharted: Golden Abyss and/or Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception in the Nathan Drake Collection.
Too many games, not enough time!!!
Will Worrall
My Summer Car
This month, I have been very unproductively playing a rather insane amount of My Summer Car. If you’re not chronically online (complimentary) enough to know what MSC is, you’re missing out. The game is basically a Finnish rally simulator but where the focus is on surviving long enough to completely rebuild a junk-mobile, affectionately called Satsuma, from scratch so that you can win the rally in a car of your own making. Of course, that description is a ton simpler than actually accomplishing this feat.
Firstly, you have to get the engine from being in literal pieces to being completely together and functioning. The game gives you almost no information, but even with a guide, you’re likely to take 10+ hours your first time building the car, and that’s if you’re lucky. Combined with the game’s intention of being played in perma-death mode (the true Finnish experience), you can probably see why MSC has a reputation for being hilarious but very frustrating. Honestly, even if you do put the car together, any extended period of time spent driving it is liable to make something go wrong. From entire pistons shooting out of the engine to the radiator gushing over the windscreen, even experienced players spend more time fixing their car than actually driving it.
So, why is this even appealing? That’s sort of a tough question to answer. Personally, I can’t really describe why I keep coming back to this one. I’ve spent 60+ hours on the game at this point, but I still can’t wait to get back into my uncle’s shitty van with a crate of beers and a custom radio playlist blared over the shitty speakers, flipping off the po-po with almost no consequences. Sure, my drunken debauchery is liable to land me in prison, but at least my cousin, Pena, is there to keep me company.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I looked at Satsuma funny, and now it needs the engine block replaced again.
Tasha Quinn
Sons of the Forest
There’s nothing that builds a sense of camaraderie quite like fighting for your very survival on an island inhabited by cannibals and mutants.
I’ve been playing Sons of the Forest lately. It’s one of my favourite games to play with friends, and we’ve recently started a new playthrough. Hurrah!
If you’re not familiar with the game, it’s a sequel to The Forest, which came out back in 2014. It’s been out for a couple of years now, officially launching in 2024 after a year of early access, and it’s a damn good game.
The game begins when you crash-land on a large, seemingly uninhabited island, accompanied by the AI-controlled Kelvin and any of your pals if you’re playing online. The island is actually quite scenic, something that the game’s impressive graphics really highlight. Then, you meet the locals, and you realise that the island might not be as uninhabited as you thought.
The poor cannibals and mutants won’t know what hit them, though, because before long, you’ll be raiding their camps for supplies, wearing armour made from their bones and skin, and planting effigies outside your home to warn them of what happens when they try to invade your territory.
The last time we played, we sort of rushed through things to get to the ending, but this time, we’re taking it slow to make the most of the game. We tried to avoid the cannibals for a while, wanting to build our base before we started getting any unwanted visitors. We also upped the difficulty a bit to get that true survival game feel.
A few new recipes had been added to the crafting book since our last run, so we’ve been enjoying the benefit of being able to use rafts to traverse the massive island. We haven’t even made a start on the caves this time around, but it’s definitely a game I can sink a lot of time into without getting bored.
Daniel Garcia-Montes
Doom: The Dark Ages
After completing the extremely challenging but somehow still fun The First Berserker: Khazan, I was ripping and tearing through hordes of demons in Doom: The Dark Ages. And I had a blast. The Doom games are just so damn satisfying, and this newest title could be the most satisfying of them all. The previous games, Doom (2016) and Doom Eternal, had you focus more on constantly being on the move and shooting away at everything that moved, while Doom: The Dark Ages…still had you focus on moving around and shooting, BUT it adds a new and refreshing melee element to the proceedings. The Doom Slayer’s Shield Saw lets him defend and parry enemy attacks, as well as attack them directly with shield charges and by throwing the weapon to kill weaker enemies and stun larger ones. You also get some melee weapons to give the Doom Slayer even more options to deal with his demonic foes.
In other games that give you the option of character classes, I prefer the armored juggernauts who can plow through enemy ranks and crush them with their large weapons and awesome might…and if they can bolster themselves with magic or sorcery, even better. The Doom Slayer is basically the armored juggernaut of my dreams but put in a first-person shooter game. And if all that wasn’t enough, you get to play a few missions where the Doom Slayer pilots a giant mech and rides a cybernetic dragon to absolutely destroy more demons. Gameplay-wise, those missions aren’t top-tier or anything, but damn if they’re not still badass and aesthetically pleasing. This game is currently sitting at the top spot for my GOTY this year.
