What We Played #651 – Stellar Blade, Another Crab’s Treasure & TopSpin 2K25

Tennis games have been around for forever. Atari’s table tennis game Pong, for example, dates back all the way to the first video games of all time in the 70s. But we’ve come a long way since then. In fact, we’ve come a long way with the TopSpin franchise, too. Twenty years later, the title (which started out on the first Xbox consoles) is back on the next-gen consoles. And, oh boy, it’s a huge, positive leap forward. Tennis simulation has never felt so real as it does with Hangar 13’s TopSpin 2k25.

The recently released TopSpin 2K25 is a fantastic tennis title, but the game's currently being blasted for its always online requirement. Yep, this is one of those games where you need a connection to the servers before you can actually play it — even if you just want to grind through career mode or enjoy a local match.

TopSpin 2K25 fans are lashing out at 2K following widespread server issues that have impacted the game's single-player mode. Players are rallying against the game's always-online requirement, a common complaint made against a plethora of modern-day video games and one that is heavily affecting TopSpin 2K25.

Along with Kril's 69 different shells, also offers several different costumes to equip. While they don't necessarily benefit Kril in gameplay as the shells do, they give the player a way to customize their experience. Many are clever references to other popular icons that players may be familiar with.

Stellar Blade's Eve will stare the player down if they're ogling her for too long.

Stellar Blade's overwhelmingly positive player reviews propelled the action-adventure title close to the peak of the PlayStation 5's user score rankings. Players have showered Stellar Blade with praise for its over-the-top combat and eye-catching character designs, with thousands of reviews bolstering the game's user score since its April 26 release. The success of developer Shift Up's latest title cemented its status as one of the most celebrated original IPs to debut in recent years for PlayStation and Sony.

Stellar Blade, the latest PS5 exclusive, is out now on Sony's current-gen console. This is a big budget, out-and-out action game — something of a rarity these days — and it's been met with a slew of high scoring reviews. Needless to say, a lot of PlayStation fans have been waiting for this one.

Playing through to the credits in can take a while, but anyone particularly enraptured with the game might want to keep the adventure going after the ending. tells the story of a futuristic soldier named Eve working to retake a ruined Earth, a task that requires fighting plenty of hostile creatures with uniquely challenging attacks to parry and overcome. It can be tempting to rush through to keep the focus on the action, but there's also an appeal in ferreting out secrets in its harsh world.

Stellar Blade is out, and it has been met by a largely positive reception — but many are wondering who plays Eve, as much of the discourse has centred on her.

You’ve heard of the Lands Between, but have you ever considered the Sands Between? That’s not a joke, that’s a genuine area in Another Crab’s Treasure, and I don’t think anything sums up the exact vibe that this game is going for better than the name of that one area. This is a love letter to and a sendup of so much of what FromSoftware has done, all wrapped up in a very cute crab protagonist just trying to get their home back, and a deeply unsettling message about pollution that we all already know, but don’t often get to play through.

I wasn’t expecting to love Stellar Blade. From the overly sexualised outfits that dominated its pre-release discourse, to the boss battles that looked a bit too difficult for my liking, I wouldn’t have been surprised if I bounced right out of it after a few minutes.

Another Crab's Treasure might not look like a soulslike action RPG, but it is one. Take out the dark, oppressive nature of FromSoftware's output and replace it with SpongeBob, and you're more or less there. Purposely juxtaposing the established tropes of the genre, this title offers a fresh, more lighthearted experience without sacrificing the level of challenge you'd expect.