Charms and Flexible Approaches to Combat

Hangar 13 has emphasized many times during development that The Old Country is not an open-world game. To clarify, it does have a fairly large map covering a small part of Sicily, but most of the time you’ll only see it while traveling between locations by riding or driving. The game even lets you skip these trips, which makes the world feel even less necessary. If you want to buy PS5 cheap games that focus more on story and action than open-world exploration, this might be the one for you. However, you shouldn’t skip them, because – even if it sounds like a common cliché in game reviews – the environment is one of the strongest elements in The Old Country. Hangar 13 has done an excellent job crafting a beautiful representation of early 1900s Sicily, from the dirt roads and thick vineyards to Mount Etna looming ominously in the distance.

This careful attention to detail also applies to other areas in the game, like the impressive Torrisi house and the vibrant streets of San Celeste. You’ll want to explore every corner of these places, and the game rewards you with various collectible documents, hidden statues, and charms.

The charms can be worn on your necklace to grant extra abilities, such as faster reloading or the chance to dodge gunshots. As usual, some are more useful than others – once I unlocked faster aiming, I stuck with it – but they add a bit of variety to a game that usually offers limited opportunities for different playstyles.

You can’t be part of the Mafia without getting your hands dirty, and for the most part The Old Country follows the familiar formula found in other action-adventure games. You can try to move stealthily through each area, taking out guards without being detected, or – whether by choice or after being spotted – go in guns blazing, turning the game into a cover shooter.

Nothing here is groundbreaking, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t enjoyable. The gunplay is solid, and taking out enemies with headshots from a distance feels just as satisfying as in any game. Sometimes there’s no need to reinvent the wheel when what’s already working is good enough.

That said, not everything hits the mark. Every major showdown ends in a knife fight, and these are the game’s weak point. The concept is you can parry light attacks with one button and dodge heavy attacks with another.

In practice, though, it quickly becomes clear that instead of staying alert and reacting quickly to each strike, it’s just as effective to dodge everything and then slash.

I respect the effort to mix things up and make fights with important enemies more meaningful, but when the shooting is so enjoyable, the knife fights feel like the skits on a rap album – fun at first, but soon you want the game to stick to what it does best.

A Familiar but Well-Told Mafia Tale

Because of its linear design, The Old Country was always going to succeed or fail based on its story, and thankfully it’s an enjoyable tale, albeit a fairly safe one. The cast is outstanding throughout, greatly aided by the impressive character models that can convey the most subtle expressions.

Each cutscene is a technical feat, to the point where you might forgive the game dropping to 30fps whenever one starts. Many close-ups of characters extract every detail from the facial performances, making it a real pleasure to watch.

Enzo’s story is engaging as well. It’s certainly not the most original – anyone who has seen even a few mafia movies will spot the clichés along the way and predict the main twist before the character does – but like the gameplay, the takeaway is that a plot doesn’t have to be groundbreaking if it’s told well, and I was still very invested in what happened to him and those around him.

I played part of the game with my wife beside me on the couch, and when I told her later that I had finished it, she insisted I tell her everything that happened, something that rarely occurs with other games I review. It may be a story eager to use every trope in the book, but sometimes the most familiar path offers the most comfortable journey.

A Beautifully Realized Sicily That Deserves More Freedom

When the credits rolled after about 13 hours, I felt satisfied with what Mafia: The Old Country delivered. Its story kept me engaged without overstaying its welcome, its gunplay was a lot of fun, and Hangar 13’s remarkable attention to graphical detail did justice to both the stunning cast and the breathtaking beauty of Sicily.

However, it’s the latter that feels like the biggest missed opportunity. I understand that fans wanted the series to move away from the open-world style of the third game and return to something more linear, so in a way, by criticizing it for being too linear, I risk faulting it for not being what it never aimed to be.

Still, Hangar 13’s portrayal of Sicily is so rich and picturesque that it feels like a crime – not as serious as the Torrisi boys’ deeds, but a crime nonetheless – that such a detailed and beautiful setting is underused here.

An Underwhelming Free Roam in a Gorgeous World

There is an ‘Explore’ option – hidden in the game’s chapter replay screen and something I wouldn’t have discovered without the developer’s tip – which thankfully lets you roam the map freely, collecting most of the remaining collectibles scattered around.

While this allows you to take in the sights at a slower pace and appreciate the scenery in greater detail, it also makes it even more disappointing that there isn’t much else to do, as you walk down empty roads and through streets full of people who don’t interact with you. Purists aside – I’d gladly take on a hit for an open-world sequel that populates the countryside and surrounding areas with NPCs and side quests.

The level of detail in San Celeste alone is so impressive – one mission even hints at what could have been with an Assassin’s Creed-style rooftop chase – that it’s almost funny how one of the few times you visit the area is to take part in a high-speed race zooming through it.

That said, it speaks volumes about the game’s quality that my biggest complaint is wanting more of it. It’s been clear from the start that this was meant to be a shorter, more straightforward experience, so in terms of what Hangar 13 aimed to achieve, they’ve definitely succeeded.

A Compact, Old-School Adventure Worth the Price

Overall, Mafia: The Old Country is a solid little adventure which, with its Explore mode adding some replay value beyond the 20 hours.

As long as you go in knowing you’re getting something ‘old’ both in name and nature – an adventure that calls back to the PS2/3 era where you just played through the story, saw the credits, and moved on without any live service features or microtransactions – and don’t expect much post-game beyond hunting down collectibles, it comes highly recommended.

The Evolution of Engagement: Refined Gameplay and Visual Grandeur

From its opening moments, Death Stranding 2 makes it clear that the developers have fine-tuned the foundational gameplay loop with appreciable care. The art direction has stepped up another notch, and the sheer visual fidelity across mountains, wind-swept plains, and rain-soaked towns never fails to amaze. Every distant skyline, every weathered stone, adds layer after layer to an immersion that feels more like standing inside a painting than staring at a screen. Look beyond the visuals, though, and the traversal mechanics hit a similar high note. You can practically feel the weight of the cargo, the shift in posture, the breath before a long climb; each little adjustment is satisfying in its own right. That simple joy of delivering packages, the heartbeat of the first title, remains intact and, thanks to these upgrades, feels more rewarding than ever—exactly the kind of depth I was hoping to uncover when I chose to buy cheap PS5 games.

Kojima has decided to put the spotlight on combat in this sequel, and most players are likely to cheer that choice. What used to be a quiet, almost optional part of the game now hums with energy, showing up more often and feeling genuinely engaging every time it does. You have a shiny, expanded toolkit, and the thrill of tossing together gadgets, traps, and timing just right never gets old. This new action element doesn't shove aside the careful planning and delivery; instead, it nestles beside those ideas, deepening the loop rather than trampling it. Because every skirmish, every gadget used, slots into the bigger rebuild effort, your small victories somehow feel like bold strokes on a giant canvas.

The Story: A Gut Punch, Yet Divisive by Design

Then there's the story. Death Stranding 2 hits like an emotional freight train, almost hard to shake even after you set the controller down. Its beauty feels real, echoing worries and hopes from the outside world, so many players will find themselves nodding in recognition during cutscenes. Kojima once again plays director, weaving scenes directly into the action, and you can almost smell that movie-set production value. Themes of connection, purpose, and standing tall against impossible odds keep twisting back on each other, making the plot as tangled and compelling as real life.

Still, this same quirk can tip over into what fans gently call Too Kojima territory. The story sprawls with strange symbols and head-scratchers that leave a shrug on newcomers. I've run into everything from platypus goo and a sludge-eyed skull to a chatty seat belt, a marionette in hot water, and yes, Norman Reedus' nips flashing on screen. None of that is random static; it barely scratches the surface of the game's oddball parade. I applaud anyone brave enough to serve up such left-field visions; it beats cookie-cutter design and shows a wild mind at work. That said, casual players might blink, laugh, or simply back away when the parade rolls by. The out-there details add a signature seasoning, but they can also swamp the mood or feel like showing off, risking a wider audience's connection to the drama itself.

The Balance: Strengths and Occasional Stumbles

Look at Death Stranding 2 from an entire play session, and you'll probably walk away feeling like a medal-winning effort has crossed the finish line. The mix of winding sci-fi lore, sleek stealth, and upgraded action works together in a way that builds on the series' genuine experimentation rather than forcing it. Visually, the game swings from breathtaking vistas to creepy bits that will stick with you long after you've put the pad down, yet the core fun still takes the spotlight. Everything that felt missing the first time around-now tighter movement, friendly NPCs, and faster gear-swapping-arrives here without yanking the cliff-hanger plot off course, and that's no easy trick. Simply put, it's one of the best games I've spent time with in ages.

A fair take still has to note that, Polish aside, a handful of moments hit the same notes again for anyone who lives for fresh surprises. True, the loop runs smoother than before, but its essence-hiding in menus, sneaking past cameras, hunting for clues-remains the heart. And for all the big ideas in the plot, certain scenes that dive deep into dream logic or splashy symbols probably won't land with every player. The story expects you to have finished the first one and liked that wild ride, so anyone who missed it or walked away cold may find On The Beach a tougher pitch. Yet if that background clicks for you, the 30- to 50-hour tag-or, in my case, far more time since pre-orders opened-still promises a trip that feels strange, fun, a bit uneven, and hard to forget. Kojima's work never lacks a dial-bending twist; the man could play pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey blindfolded yet still stick it dead center. Looking back on my hours so far, I can confidently call the ride nothing short of awesome.

So, for the wider gaming crowd, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is a wonderful game, provided you can stomach its one-of-a-kind taste. It polishes the delivery loop, beefs up the gunfights, and wraps both in a jaw-droppingly pretty world. The plot is a genuine tear-jerker, even if its trademark strangeness sometimes asks more patience than most of us have. It's everything I hoped to see from a follow-up, and for players brave enough to lean into the oddness it offers a rare, deeply satisfying ride. Keep On Keeping On! Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, A Beautiful Mess, I Can't Stop Thinking About Kojima's Vision, A Fever Dream of Connection and Chaos. I just cleared Death Stranding 2: On the Beach and feel like a truck made of metaphors, tar, and pure dread plowed through my brain. I'm sitting here, staring at the credits, honestly unsure what I just lived through. Was it a game? A flick? A philosophical lecture stuffed into a delivery sim? I've got no clue. What I do know is that Kojima swung for the fences, and even if not every swing connected, I can't shake the thrill of watching him try.

Let's get the obvious out of the way: yes, this sequel is miles ahead of the original. Still, saying it's the tastiest pile of muck I ever ingested misses the point, because I don't want any muck at all. The Decima engine turns every pixel into dream-like 4K brushstrokes, making Australia's otherworldly cliffs both stunning and achingly lonely. Unfortunately, the core play remains a headache-a slow, punishing meditation across hills and rivers that seem designed to break your careful cargo stack. Even so, I pushed forward. Not for the standard buzz of fun, but because the game's quiet rhythm, the weight of each package, and the stubbornness of the world felt strangely honest.

New Faces Add Charm, Yet Feel Oddly Adrift

I've got to admit, Hideo's gift for naming makes every new character sound like a lost Mega Man villain. Tarman. Rainy. Tomorrow. Yes, Tomorrow. I dared to keep a straight face when she laid out the Repatriate Singularity lore, but I cracked. The wild part? I wound up liking them. I did. Fragile feels more down-to-earth this time—ironic, I know. Heartman finally gets his big scene, somehow tied to Australia's Dreamtime. And Dollman? He's the soul of the trip—your easy-going guide, a light-headed puppet-philosopher who says junk like All bonds are strings vibrating at different frequencies. It’s the kind of weird, character-driven storytelling I hoped for when I went to buy cheap PS5 games that don’t play it safe.

Yet these faces keep disappearing for hours, swallowed by the gap between cinematic breaks and actual play. It feels as if Kojima shot a forty-hour art film, then stuffed it between a hundred-twenty hours of delivery errands. I swear Rainy shows up in only three cutscenes. So why even give her a name if she's just there to lecture about weaponized weather?

Gameplay Evolution: Postal Zen or Maddening Chore?

I’m not exaggerating when I say that dropping off a package in Death Stranding 2 feels like pure zen. I paved dirt trails across empty dunes just to make sure a birthday cake stayed upright. I fixed zip lines while a low-roar album looped in the background and spaced out on the main story for an afternoon. This sequel takes all that walking-and-building stuff and amps it: stranger roads wind over hills you swear were smooth yesterday, new gadgets handle snow or mud, and players you’ll never see leave ladders hanging for you to grab. It’s kind of eerie and kind of gorgeous all at once.

The catch, though, is that the more enjoyable the delivery loop gets—the sneaky co-op, the compulsive gear swapping, the careful weight math—the more the story feels tacked on. You can easily burn six hours fine-tuning a hover cart route through a spore-blasted valley, then, out of nowhere, a fifteen-minute cutscene drops, and some guy in a mushroom hat starts lecturing you about trauma-shaped nuclear dreams. Whiplash is too mild a word, honestly.

Cinematic Moments That Break Your Brain (In A Good Way?)

There’s one scene, minor spoilers here-where Sam finds himself inside a downed cargo freighter that somehow exists simultaneously in the past and present. Timefall is leaking in, causing containers to age and de-age rapidly, and Dollman is trying to defuse a package rigged to explode if you feel too much emotion. I wish I were making that up. I genuinely sat on the floor and stared at the screen. Was this genius? Was this parody? I don’t know. It was riveting. It made no sense. I loved it.

And that’s Kojima’s gift, right? The raw audacity of it. The sheer gall to write a scene where Tarman, soaked in black tar and holding a baby skeleton, explains that war is just death delivered via consensus. It’s pretentious. It’s absurd. It lands like a punch to the soul. I haven’t seen anything else in gaming like it-this brave, unfiltered, barely coherent sprawl of emotional spectacle. Even when I hated it, I admired it.

The Gun Culture Critique Hits Harder Than It Should

Yeah, this new delivery from Kojima doesn’t shy away from ordnance. Where previous games sparked curiosity, here every cutscene flares like a military briefing. You stumble on camps run by The Smiths-honest name, I know-whose idea of fun is digging up sketches for railguns, rocket drones, anything that roars. One quest begs you to preach about putting weapons down, all while a sharpshooter tracks your every move. I thought I’d breeze through, yet the gap between sermon and survival made my palms sweat.

That jolt is chilling because the world outside looks eerily similar. The script pokes fun at itself: Heartman stops mid-rant to ask if we’ve reached peak irony, as if reading the room. But in that half-joke, it dares you to examine the urge to fortify against what-ifs. Glossy sci-fi gibberish gives way to a real question: when does caution become obsession? The game nails those moments, trading health bars for headspace and spilling more genuine thought than some novels manage.

When The Abstract Becomes Just… Too Abstract

Look, poetry is fun, but there are moments when all that high-mindedness simply trips over itself. You reach a scene, and instead of feeling enlightened, you’re staring at the screen wondering if the writer got lost in his backstory. Take the “Ocean of Echoes” briefing; it crammed in four nested timelines, a talkative email server, and something by the name of “quantum empathy.” What on Earth is quantum empathy? Honestly, I still don’t know, and it feels as if the script doesn’t, either. Kojima probably hopes we pick up a mood instead of a dictionary, yet now and then, I just want a straightforward answer: why does Tomato have a lizard tail, and why does nobody ever bother to bring it up?

The available mystery can be charming, but it also dangles just far enough in front of you to feel like homework. You put the controller down, convinced you left a secret mission undone or that an overlooked email is the key to everything. That little itch is clever—game designers love making us paranoid—but it can wear you out. Instead of enjoying a story, you end up reading twenty forums to find out if anyone else is equally confused, and half the time, the newcomers all agree: there might be nothing to find.

Respecting The Vision, Rejecting The Experience

So yeah. I think I just finished Death Stranding 2. At least, that’s what everyone says you say when the credits scroll, unscroll, and then you hop back into a tiny third-act mission where Sam stitches a Wi-Fi bridge across a glowing network-gulf (ask the internet where the seed idea came from). I put down the controller, stood up, and clapped. Not because my heart sang, but because Kojima pulled the curtain on a madness I still can’t fully explain.

Let me be clear: I respect this game. Its engine-chef, Decima, seems to have unlocked some sort of sorcery, and the world heaves with weather that feels more mood than code. Areas I thought were just tundra hum with subtle sound design, and Lea Seydoux’s eyes do that painful, gorgeous, uncanny thing where you forget she’s acting. Yet when I think about play-by-play pleasure—the fun of moving, the thrill of surprise, the slight dopamine hit when a climb works—that part ground me into mush. Hours drifted away while I cursed broken ropes, double-checked a virtual map for the fifth time, then re-dragged cargo out of a rainstorm.

I don’t want my descent into inventory misery to be anyone else’s initiation story, but hey, maybe you’re stubborn or curious or just free on a Tuesday afternoon. If that sounds like you, welcome to the beach. Just pack coffee, a spare pair of boots, and lots of Band-Aids for those virtual knee scrapes.

A Nostalgic Return to Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed

Returning to this series has been such a treat, especially with all the improvements made since the original release. Looking back at my experience with the first game on the Wii, I can still remember the frustrations. But those memories are part of what makes the newer games so much more enjoyable. If you're feeling nostalgic and want to relive some of that magic, you can always buy cheap Xbox games that bring new twists to classic Disney adventures! As a younger player, I often found the objectives confusing, even with the map and revisiting characters for hints. The Wii’s controls, paired with the awkward camera, made some parts tough, especially when using paint or thinner, which could be a real pain to control. These issues held back what could’ve been one of my favorite games on the console, mainly because of the creativity behind it. The idea of using a magical paintbrush to alter the world was perfect for the Wii’s motion controls, which used the on-screen cursor. Now, playing on a PlayStation 5, which is lightyears ahead of the Wii, it’s been fascinating to see how the game has translated to this new platform. The most obvious improvement over the original is the graphics. Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed brings the world to life with stunning visuals. The environments, characters, and objects now have so much more detail, making every scene pop and enhancing the surreal vibe of the Wasteland. It’s clear the developers put a lot of work into updating the visuals, and the results speak for themselves. The makeover truly honors the bizarre, forgotten world, and it makes me hopeful that Epic Mickey 2 could get the same treatment in the future. The controls have also been massively upgraded. In the original, Mickey felt a bit clunky, which was a problem in a platformer. But in Rebrushed, his movements are way more responsive, and the platforming feels much smoother. New moves like dashing, ground-pounding, and sprinting fit perfectly into the gameplay, making it a lot more enjoyable to navigate through levels. It’s a great improvement that keeps the original charm while feeling fresh. I’ve really enjoyed these updates to Mickey’s moveset—they feel timely and round out his abilities nicely. Plus, players can revisit tutorials in the menu, which is a nice touch if you want to refresh your memory as you go. The tutorials are fun little clips, but like the rest of the game, they only feature subtitles and no voiced dialogue.

Challenges in Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed's Objective System

Despite all the work that’s gone into remaking Epic Mickey: Rebrushed, there are still some parts that didn’t quite get the same level of attention. One major issue is the objective system, which remains a bit complicated and tough to follow. However, for those who enjoy a bit more clarity and smoother gameplay, you can always buy cheap PS5 games that offer more intuitive systems and easier navigation. I can imagine this could be especially frustrating for younger players, making it hard to progress. Even the original game’s objective marker doesn’t always clearly show where players need to go. I was hoping for a more significant overhaul in this area, with clearer guidance on what steps to take next, but it seems like the changes here are just surface-level. While the objective does appear in the pause menu along with a player marker, it still focuses on broader quest elements rather than specifically showing where to go or what to look for. It’s disappointing to see this problem carry over, as it really slows down progress, especially if players forget where they need to go or miss the dialogue cues for the next objective.

A Delightful Return to Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed

Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed is a treat for players who missed the original or those who simply long for the series. The paint and thinner mechanics remain just as fun as before, and watching the world shift and change at your command is still a standout feature. The game taps into Disney’s forgotten corners, offering a nostalgic and tender experience that deserves more recognition. It’s a joy to see how the game brings to life not only characters and animatronics but also collectables from Disney’s rich history. The chance to explore these unique aspects of the Disney universe is one of the game’s greatest strengths. If Disneyland is considered the happiest place on earth, then this game feels like the most nostalgic. It’s not just the elements I remember that make it so sentimental, but the strong sense of purpose the game carries in preserving Disney’s legacy. Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed strikes a balance between brilliance and missed opportunities. On the plus side, the updated visuals breathe new life into the Wasteland, making it a true visual masterpiece. The improved controls give Mickey the agility he lacked in 2010, making platforming feel much smoother. However, certain design flaws, especially the vague objective system, still linger, which can slow progress and break the flow of the game. The absence of voice acting in a Disney game in 2024 also feels like a significant oversight. Despite these issues, the heart of Epic Mickey is still very much alive, and the game remains a nostalgic and enjoyable adventure for both new and returning players.

Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed – A Visually Enhanced Remake

Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed offers a fresh coat of paint to the quirky, forgotten corners of Disney, but it doesn’t quite reach masterpiece status. As far as remakes go, it brings a much-needed visual overhaul, adding new gameplay moves and quality-of-life improvements that enhance the experience. However, the tedious objective system and the lack of voiced dialogue feel like missed opportunities, especially for Mickey’s big return. Despite these drawbacks, the game stands out in preserving a unique chapter of Disney’s gaming legacy and leaves fans hopeful that there’s more to come from Mickey and Oswald in the future!

Cutscenes and Art Style in Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed

The cutscenes in Epic Mickey: Rebrushed are woven into the gameplay, showcasing a unique art style that channels the feel of an animated short. This seamless integration adds to the immersive experience, and if you're looking for more magical adventures, you can always buy cheap Xbox games that offer similar visual storytelling and creativity! While these segments are clearly crafted with care, just like in the original, the absence of voice acting is still noticeable. Since the characters' mouths are already animated, adding voiceovers would have been a simple touch that could’ve really boosted engagement with the story, making the game feel even more like a playable cartoon. The areas are spacious, giving you room to explore and figure out your path. Interacting with forgotten Disney characters scattered throughout provides crucial hints on how to move forward. While the missions themselves are fairly straightforward, the real joy comes from exploring iconic, albeit darker, versions of Disney landmarks—like wandering through a shadowy Main Street or hopping across a spooky version of It’s a Small World. The thoughtful incorporation of Disney’s vast IP really gives the game its charm, with subtle details and Easter eggs that fans will love, making each moment feel like a nostalgic treasure hunt.

Mickey's Magical Paintbrush in Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed

Armed with a magical paintbrush, Mickey uses this powerful tool to solve puzzles and battle enemies. Some parts of the world are missing, and you can paint them back into existence with your brush, but you can also use the thinner to remove paint in certain areas, uncovering secrets and collectibles hidden throughout. And if you're looking for more adventures, you can always buy cheap PS5 games that offer similar magical worlds full of creativity and exploration. The brush also doubles as a weapon: some enemies need their armor thinned out to expose weak spots, while others can be turned into allies by painting them. You can also smother foes with paint until they can't handle it anymore or strike them with a spinning attack. While the combat offers a variety of options, it’s mostly functional and never really goes beyond being serviceable. The game’s quality-of-life improvements really boost the overall experience. Mickey’s now way more agile, with the ability to dash out of danger and perform ground pounds on enemies. The biggest upgrade, though, is the ability to run. No more trudging through areas slowly; now you can sprint, which makes the pacing feel much better. With motion controls being optional and aiming mapped to the right analog stick, these improvements make the gameplay more engaging and enjoyable. The game also includes side-scrolling 2D platforming levels inspired by classic cartoons. Each stage looks amazing, perfectly capturing the style and vibe of the original animations. The visual upgrades really shine here, and Purple Lamp added more collectibles, new paths, and challenges to make these sections more rewarding to revisit. However, while these additions are cool, going back to these levels can get repetitive, especially because they’re not too difficult. Luckily, there’s an option to skip them once they’re completed, which helps prevent the grind from becoming too much.

Choice and Consequence in Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed

Throughout your adventure, you'll face choices that impact your Guardian-Meter, with updates made to give you a clearer understanding of how your decisions shape the story. These choices affect the game's ending, meaning you'll need to play through at least a couple of times to 100% the game. Thankfully, the New Game Plus mode makes this much easier. Rebuilt from the ground up, the game looks absolutely gorgeous. Every asset has been carefully reworked, adding loads of personality and charm to the world. The color choices are especially striking, with characters from the 1920s and 30s moving around in eerie black-and-white, living in environments that take classic Disney settings and give them a darker, more atmospheric twist. The contrast between these shadowy backgrounds and the bright colors from your paintbrush is visually stunning.

Mickey's Return to the Wasteland in Disney Epic Mickey

So, in the wizard’s magical world, all hell breaks loose for the residents of the Wasteland. Over time, Mickey forgets about the chaos he caused and keeps stacking up fame with his endless cartoons. But if you ever want to dive back into those wild adventures, you can always buy cheap Xbox games that bring Mickey’s iconic moments back to life! But then, one morning, he gets snatched up by a paint-and-thinner monster and dragged back to the messed-up world he created years ago. What’s dope about the story is seeing old-school Disney characters make a comeback. They kinda remind us of the old cartoons they starred in with Mickey, even though Mickey’s kinda forgotten them over the years. Oh, and there are moments where you gotta make choices, but honestly, they don’t really affect the main plot. Epic Mickey: Rebrushed is a platformer with puzzles, enemy fights, and a whole lot of painting and dissolving parts of the environment. You use your magic paintbrush to fix up the Wasteland with magic ink if you’re stuck, or you can use the solvent to get rid of stuff in your way. The game has a choice system, but honestly, it feels kinda wasted. In Rebrushed, it’s basically the same as before. You can choose to help characters or leave them hanging—helping makes them happy, but if you don’t, you just get a little side-eye. The choices don’t really affect the game; the only thing that changes is the soundtrack depending on what you do.

Nostalgic 2D Platforming in Disney Epic Mickey

The game also throws in some cool 2D platforming sections that feel like a tribute to the classic Mickey Mouse shorts from the 20s and 30s – yup, Steamboat Willie is in there! As Mickey explores, players can even buy cheap PS5 games that dive into these nostalgic moments, bringing the charm of those early animations to life in new, exciting ways. These areas are short but super nostalgic, giving a nod to Disney’s old-school roots. Plus, there are tickets and collectibles scattered throughout the world that unlock new concept art, adding a little extra fun for completionists. One thing I wasn’t feeling too much, though, was the combat with regular enemies (not the bosses). There’s not much satisfaction in taking them down or even turning them into allies with paint or solvent. Honestly, it’s sometimes just better to ignore them. But when it comes to the bosses, that's a whole different vibe—those fights are way more engaging.

Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed – A Polished Revamp

Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed is marketed as a full revamp, fixing the main issues of the original and giving us more than just a graphical upgrade—it’s a more polished, modern experience. While it keeps the same story and level design as the 2010 game, improvements to the controls and camera make the gameplay smoother and more satisfying. Plus, the addition of new quality-of-life features in Rebrushed makes the game more enjoyable for both OG fans and newcomers. That said, some issues are still hanging around, like the lack of voice acting in all the cutscenes (and I mean all of them), and the combat with regular enemies still feels kinda flat. Visually, though, the game looks stunning, with better animations and effects compared to the 2010 version.

Mickey's Adventure in Rifiutopolandia: Teaming Up and Using the Magic Paintbrush

So, the brave Mickey Mouse gets thrown into Rifiutopolandia, a place where all the forgotten cartoon characters end up, and while navigating this strange land, he stumbles upon a marketplace where you can buy cheap PS5 games that feature long-lost heroes and villains from the past. To escape and fix the mess he’s in, Mickey’s gonna need to team up with some quirky characters from Disney’s forgotten worlds and learn how to use a super powerful tool—the magic paintbrush. The original Epic Mickey was a big deal because it was made by Warren Spector, who was famous for Deus Ex and System Shock. At first, fans were kinda thrown off by him switching to a more lighthearted vibe, but if you played it, you could still feel his signature style. Even though Mickey’s the main character, the game’s story is inspired by Through the Looking Glass, the less famous sequel to Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. We’ve seen similar influences in the Mickey Mouse world before, like in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, but in Epic Mickey, the vibe is way darker—kinda like something Tim Burton would do. The worlds you explore are all wrecked, gloomy, and totally messed up. Only Mickey has the power to fix it with the Magic Brush. That’s the secret sauce of the game’s mechanics; without it, the game would just be another action-platformer.

The Magic Brush in Disney Epic Mickey Rebrushed

The Magic Brush has two main functions: painting and erasing. To use them, you’ll need to collect two different types of paint by smashing things to make sure you don’t run out. And while you’re at it, if you’re ever in the mood to buy cheap Xbox games, there are plenty of exciting titles where the Magic Brush and similar tools come into play! With the Painting function, you can bring back things that have vanished from Wasteland, while the Erasing function lets you make things disappear. These might sound like simple powers, but they actually create some pretty unique and fun gameplay moments. For example, you can erase the ground beneath an enemy to make them fall into the void, or remove a wall to find a hidden spot. On the flip side, you can make a broken bridge reappear or fix a broken mechanism by restoring missing parts. Of course, you can’t use these powers everywhere—otherwise, the game design would be a mess—but there’s a handy indicator on the screen that shows you where you can use them. There’s a lot of spots where you can experiment, so don’t be afraid to try different things. The paints are also useful in battles; depending on the enemy, you can use them to “melt” them or even turn them to your side. Overall, though, the combat isn't too difficult—it’s pretty chill.

Exploring Rifiutolandia in Disney Epic Mickey

The worlds in Rifiutolandia are connected, but Disney Epic Mickey isn’t an open-world game. In each level, you can wander around and hunt for collectibles, but honestly, they don’t offer much reward or serve much purpose. While Epic Mickey might not reach the heights of other more famous games like Astro Bot or even Psychonauts 2, we did enjoy its unique design, especially the 2D levels that gave us nostalgic vibes from classics like Castle of Illusion—though it’s a shame they’re so short. Now, Disney Epic Mickey is back in the spotlight with a multiplatform release. The gameplay is still fun, especially with the Magic Brush mechanic. The graphic update from Purple Lamp is solid, and they’ve made improvements to the camera system, which was a mess in the original. Unfortunately, the game’s replay value is still pretty low, mainly due to side activities that don’t really pull you in.