Dragon Quest VII Reimagined is the second time Square Enix has remade the original Dragon Quest VII, which launched in the U.S. on PlayStation in 2001. The first remake happened on the Nintendo 3DS back in 2016, and while it featured considerable visual upgrades, it was by and large a faithful remake of the original. Reimagined is faithful in some respects, but Square Enix has been very clear that it's meant to be a more streamlined way to play through the 100-plus-hour story of Dragon Quest VII, and it does so by streamlining the main scenario to take considerably less time to complete. 

The team is also doing some interesting things in combat to bring the play clock down a bit, but for this feature, let's dive into how Square Enix is reshaping the story of Dragon Quest VII to be more digestible. Contrary to what you might think, the Reimagined team didn't start by figuring out what to cut. 

Streamlining

"We didn't really have specific discussions about which parts we wanted to remove from the game," Reimagined lead scenario writer Sayaka Takagi tells me within Square Enix's Shibuya, Tokyo, offices, a day after I played through roughly two hours of this remake. "We actually never had any discussions, or like proactive discussions at least, about which parts we wanted to remove from the game, but we did have an extensive discussion about which parts we wanted to keep in the Reimagined version."

Takagi says one of the big themes of Dragon Quest VII's story is how it depicts these characters – like Hero, Prince Kiefer, Aishe, Maribel, Ruff, and Sir Mervyn – as facing significant adversity. "But another core theme of the story is that it also portrays the humanity of people in its characters, so with these two core elements in mind, we tried to understand all the essential stories of Dragon Quest VII that we wanted to keep." 

If you haven't played a Dragon Quest VII version before, the game certainly has an overarching story, but it's divided into subplots or arcs, if you will. Those "essential stories" Takagi is referring to are the game's various arcs and how they weave in and out of the main story. With this in mind, Takagi and the team asked other staff members developing the game and throughout Square Enix to lay out their ideas, favorite story moments, and more. "There were a lot of people saying, 'When I was playing this as a kid, I didn't really understand what the story was,' or, 'I don't really understand what the themes are, but for some reason, it's stuck in my head because it's very memorable,'" Takagi says. "So we laid out a lot of them, a lot of these story moments that fit this description, that criteria, and worked toward keeping those stories in the Reimagined version."

She adds that in this process, the team also identified many story moments that didn't align with Square Enix's vision for Reimagined. Narratively, that vision includes giving players some choice in determining how they tackle the story of Dragon Quest VII. In the original release, the island-hopping story is quite linear, but in Reimagined, players have some options to shape which direction they go. 

"They get to choose which island they want to go to next, and in the original release, it wasn't really like that; the story moments were dependent on the order," Takagi adds. "[Because of the original's fixed story order], some of the story moments didn't make sense if we were to keep that in Reimagined [...] because in the Reimagined version, we allow players to choose which story they want to move forward with." Those story moments that didn't make sense were lowered in priority and eventually cut from Reimagined. 

Players can actually see a new, never-before-seen conclusion as a result of these new choices present within Reimagined's scenario, too. 

Rebuilding

All this said, Square Enix tells me the core of Dragon Quest VII's story remains intact in Reimagined. In fact, Takagi says the scenario is the one piece of Reimagined that wasn't built from the ground up. 

"While our goal was to reimagine everything and revamp everything from the ground up, [...] it was never our intention to put forth significant changes to the story from the original work," she says. "Obviously, we wanted to respect and honor the original work, and we wanted to kind of maximize how amazing it was. So yeah, we remade everything from the ground up, but as for the story, it was more like rebuilding, taking it piece by piece. We never started from zero." 

I ask if that means putting the original script on a desk and taking what the team likes and leaving behind what it doesn't, to which Takagi says no. "It wasn't really like putting the original dialogue or original scenario side-by-side and going off of that," she says. "What we did was we started with the overview of the plot – the shorter version of the entire scenario of Dragon Quest VII – and laid out some ideas of what we could do to make the story more interesting."

She says it was like creating a puzzle that the team then had to build, and it did so by switching up the order of story sequences, rewriting dialogue, reshaping plot points, and more. Each time it made a change —like switching the order of a story sequence — it required the team to examine how that affected dialogue and other aspects of the scenario, which led to cascading adjustments. 

I try throughout this conversation to get some specifics, but Square Enix largely keeps its cards close to its chest. However, Reimagined producer Takeshi Ichikawa, who you can read more about here, tells me one key thing: the first battle in the game will arrive considerably faster. 

"The amount of time it takes to get to the first battle in the game is much shorter this time around," Ichikawa says, as we both joke about how it takes far too long in the original.

 

Fortunately, we don't have to wait long to learn specifically how streamlined the story actually is, because Dragon Quest VII Reimagined launches on February 5, 2026, on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, Switch, and PC. 

In the meantime, check out this article breaking down everything in the Dragon Quest VII Reimagined issue of Game Informer, and be sure to subscribe here if you haven't yet so you can access the Dragon Quest VII Reimagined cover story, our deep dive into Dragon Quest history with creator Yuji Horii, and so much more. Here are some other stories to check out: 

• Dragon Quest VII Reimagined Will Have A New Never-Before-Seen Conclusion
• Who Is Takeshi Ichikawa, The Producer Of Dragon Quest VII Reimagined?

What story elements of Dragon Quest VII do you hope remain in Reimagined? Let us know in the comments below!

It's November, which means we can all breathe a little because we survived the onslaught of games released in October (just don't look at our backlogs). Though November is a bit quieter than October, it still has some heaters, like Lumines Arise, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, Fallout 4: Anniversary Edition, Goodnight Universe, Possessor(s), Demonschool, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. Okay, hold up – after typing all that out, November isn't as sleepy as I thought...

Anyway, it's Friday and it's time for the weekend and our usual recommendation of games and things you should check out! But before that, here's a recap of the biggest stories of the week: 

• Grand Theft Auto VI Release Date Delayed To November 2026
• The Dragon Quest VII Reimagined Digital Issue Is Now Live
• Dragon Quest VII Reimagined Will Have A New Never-Before-Seen Conclusion
• General Manager Sheds Light On Future Of Marvel Games
• Exclusive Magic: The Gathering x Avatar: The Last Airbender Card Reveals
• Marvel 1943: Rise Of Hydra Release Date Delayed 'Beyond Early 2026'

The Games You Should Check Out This Weekend

When Square Enix announced Dragon Quest VII Reimagined during a Nintendo Direct held in September, players were left with all kinds of questions regarding this remake. Game Informer has learned quite a lot about the game after visiting Square Enix's Tokyo, Japan, offices last month for the latest magazine cover story, and we'll be sharing details all month long. 

Curiously, many Dragon Quest fans have questions about the game's producer, Takeshi Ichikawa. He's a relative newcomer, at least in a role capacity as large as producer, which means his job is to help get Reimagined across the finish line as a successful business product (rather than a work of art, which Ichikawa tells me is the job of the game's director, Masato Yagi). On Moby Games, which is a database that tracks the credits of developers, Ichikawa has a special thanks credit on last year's Dragon Quest III: HD-2D Remake, a staff credit on Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince and Dragon Quest Treasures, and assistant producer credits on Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age, and Dragon Quest Builders 2, which is seemingly the first game he ever received a credit in. 

 

During my visit to Square Enix's Shibuya offices, I interviewed Ichikawa (and various other team members working on Reimagined) for hours, and I learned a lot about him. Here's what I learned: 

Ichikawa's Start In Game Development

"I've been playing video games all my life, ever since I was a student, and then ever since then, I have always had this dream of becoming a game developer and becoming involved with the game industry," Ichikawa tells me. "So I wanted to be a game developer, a creator myself. I interviewed at a lot of video game publishers and developers, and in the end, I had the opportunity to work for Square Enix, and that's how I started my career. And at the time, I was asked by my boss what kind of game I wanted to make, and I responded, 'I'll do anything,' and that's how they put me into the Dragon Quest team."

Dragon Quest VII Reimagined producer Takeshi Ichikawa

Though he eagerly said, "I'll do anything," Ichikawa tells me he had a goal of working on the Dragon Quest series because of his childhood fascination with it. "I was fascinated by the story focus," he says. "As a kid, I actually really liked playing Dragon Quest Monsters: Terry's Wonderland, so it is a great joy for me to be involved with the series." 

Ichikawa tells me he was born the same year Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride launched in Japan, but he thinks his generation's Dragon Quest is Dragon Quest VII: Warriors of Eden and Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King. "You know, the later installments in the series," he adds. "I hadn't had much chance to play the older ones, so after I joined the company, I started playing the older mainline titles." 

Remaking Dragon Quest VII

I ask Ichikawa if, given his history with Dragon Quest, it's intimidating to remake a pretty beloved game in the series. He says there is certainly pressure. 

"There certainly was that pressure, considering that Dragon Quest VII is actually the best-performing PlayStation title in history [Editor's Note: I didn't catch this mid-interview, but I presume he's referring to Japanese sales numbers – not worldwide, as Dragon Quest VII is not the best-performing PlayStation title in history worldwide]," he tells me. "When I first started the project, there were certainly pressures of how much I can actually alter or change with this remake. But after I started talking with Horii-san, he was actually pretty open to a lot of ideas, and even some you could consider very ambitious [Editor's Note: a new, never-before-seen conclusion is pretty ambitious, I'd say]. I did have a lot of fun working on this." 

I took this opportunity to ask Yuji Horii, the creator of Dragon Quest, who is seated beside Ichikawa during this duo interview, how he feels seeing Dragon Quest VII remade by a new generation of developers. He calls it an "interesting sight to see." 

"Way back then, when I originally created the original title, there were a lot of platform limitations at that time," Horii says. "We were confined a lot [...] so seeing this new generation of creators reimagining [I know Square Enix's PR loved this nod] and remaking these titles, it's an interesting sight to see; to see them create a modern remake for the current generation of titles."

I follow up by asking Ichikawa what his initial discussions with Horii were like regarding the remake of Dragon Quest VII. He tells me their conversations focused on three components: 

"I had three components I wanted to propose to him," Ichikawa says. "The first one was the visuals of the game, so we proposed the handcrafted doll style of the game. We also wanted to suggest making some adjustments to the scenario, to the narrative of the game. And the third [component] being the adjustments made to battles and combat. For the scenario, Horii-san was welcoming to the changes, and he gave me the okay. For the battle, the only feedback he had was he just wanted us to make sure the combat wasn't too convoluted – he wanted to make sure it was easy to digest and understandable to players." 

Why Ichikawa

Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii

I'm jumping ahead here, but at the end of my interview with Horii and Ichikawa, I ask the former about the latter's work producing Reimagined. 

"I'm incredibly, incredibly happy that these two [Editor's Note: the other person being Reimagined director Masato Yagi] are working on the Reimagined title," Horii says. "I like the doll aesthetics, the handcrafted style; I also like the diorama elements on the field. I was playing the game, and it was just really fun to even just walk around a field. So yeah, I'm really happy that these two are taking the helm." 

I ask Ichikawa how that makes him feel, recognizing that I'm probably embarrassing him with this question. 

"I am super happy," Ichikawa says with a beaming smile, an embarrassed laugh, and a reserved humility. 

Ichikawa's First Dragon Quest

"Dragon Quest Monsters: Terry's Wonderland was my first ever Dragon Quest title, and I was actually still in Kindergarten; it was actually before I even started in elementary school," Ichikawa tells me. "So I didn't really have a full understanding of what the story was about, but I do remember the battle system, like the monsters fighting each other was just so fun to me. And then one of the features of Terry's Wonderland is that you can actually acquire monsters on the field to join your party. One of the very first monsters that I obtained or acquired was the [Garuda], and it's actually my favorite monster to this day." 

From here, I ask Ichikawa about growing up in Japan and seeing Dragon Quest's continued rise in the country (and worldwide). 

"I've witnessed firsthand how Dragon Quest is such a huge cultural phenomenon, but I think one of the really strong points about Dragon Quest is the story, because even if a child plays it, I think the story can really resonate with them," Ichikawa tells me. "Even playing as an adult, it's still good, [and] seeing those stories as an adult really adds another layer of depth that you never got to feel when you were a kid. So I think the fact that it resonates with generations of players – not just kids, but also adults – I think that's really one of the strong points of the series." 

Ichikawa's Development History

I note to Ichikawa that his history in game development only spans back to 2018, based on official findings available online; I ask if that's the case.

"This is my seventh year in the game industry, and as mentioned in my earlier responses, the very first title I worked on was Dragon Quest Builders 2 [released in 2018]," he tells me. "And then I worked on Dragon Quest XI S, the multiplatform release of Dragon Quest XI. So for those two titles, I served as the assistant producer, whereas for Dragon Quest VII Reimagined, I'm working on the title as the producer of the game. When I was working as the assistant producer for Dragon Quest Builders 2 and Dragon Quest XI S, I had a really different perspecitve – I would focus more on the day-to-day operation as part of the development team, whereas being the producer of one game, not the assistant producer, means I have to oversee everything, including all of the development team as well." 

The Slime

I couldn't talk to people developing a Dragon Quest game without asking about the series' most iconic monster, the slime. Here's what Ichikawa has to say about it: 

"Since I was young, at the time, the slime was already the iconic character that it is today, but one thing that I recall was that I saw a lot of slime merchandise in stores and such, and I [liked that] there were variations to the slime, too," he says. "One thing I really recall thinking is that, 'Oh, since it's a gooey character, that means it has the versatility to adapt into a lot of different things,' so that was one thing that impressed me with it." 

His Favorite Aspect of Dragon Quest

When I ask Ichikawa why he thinks the Dragon Quest series continues to be the cultural phenomenon it is today, he explains it's the "Horii-esque" elements. 

"I think all the RPG elements the series has to offer are the biggest strength of the Dragon Quest series, and I like to call it part of the Horii-esque elements," he says. "All the humor, the jokes in the narrative, the dialogue, and the expressions and the portrayals; It's just so adorable at times, and when you look at the story, it's an epic story but also somehow feels relevant to you at the time." 

I hope this feature gives you some more clarity about who Ichikawa is and why he's producing Dragon Quest VII Reimagined. If you read the cover story here, you'll understand why I think Dragon Quest VII Reimagined is in good hands thanks to everyone involved in its development, including Ichikawa as its producer. 

If you're a subscriber, head to our Dragon Quest VII Reimagined issue hub for more details about the game, a huge Dragon Quest series retrospective as told by creator Yuji Horii, and all the other great features in Issue 373 of Game Informer. 

We interviewed the general manager of Marvel Games for insight into several of the big projects the team has been working to bring to life, and where the games division is headed next.

Our recent issue of Game Informer included a big look at some of the major game projects currently in development connected to Marvel Games. As the entity overseeing and partnering with studios to bring those efforts to life, Marvel Games has an impressively wide selection of connections across the games industry, with games the run the gamut in terms of genre, gameplay style, and artistic direction. 

We had a chance to ask Haluk Mentes, General Manager of Marvel Games, about several of the games we featured in our magazine rundown, as well as briefly ask about Marvel Games’ intentions as it continues to expand in new directions. 

Check out our full interview below. Subscribers can dive into full in-depth features for the games discussed below in our digital or print issue 372, featuring The Outer Worlds 2 on the cover. 

Marvel Rivals

Marvel Games has a number of projects in the works right now, and with several different developer partners. What have been some guiding principles to those collaborations, in particular as it relates to letting developers find some freedom to shape these familiar characters into new and interesting genres or variations?

Haluk Mentes: So glad you asked this. Our north star is deceptively simple: make great games that are authentic to Marvel, whether it’s on console, PC, mobile or VR. 

The challenge is more complex: authenticity doesn’t necessarily mean one-to-one fidelity to source or reference material, whether it’s comics or animation or movies. It’s much deeper in that we allow our collaborating teams to reimagine "familiar yet original" incarnations of our characters based on their own creative DNA, whether it’s Insomniac Games with Marvel’s Spider-Man or Marvel’s Wolverine, NetEase with Marvel Rivals, Motive Studio with the forthcoming Iron Man game, Arkane with Marvel’s Blade, and many more. We absolutely do not want to be derivative. Otherwise, what’s the point of working with some of the best talent out there?

In full transparency, our games can only achieve the necessary level of creativity when we as Marvel Games have 100% cultural alignment with our collaborators. In fact, we actively seek people who have the same passion and ambition as us, who dream the same dream, as in: "wouldn’t it be cool if we made THIS character in THIS genre in THIS style?,” and then we let them, for the lack of a better word, cook. We do actively help, guide, and enhance, but it’s unmistakably their voice.

There have been so many moments where creative teams on both sides have said: “We’ve been dreaming of this all our lives.” That’s when you know magic is about to happen.

Marvel Tōkon Fighting Souls

Marvel Tōkon Fighting Souls is distinct among many historical Marvel fighting games, as it is squarely focused on Marvel characters. What was the working relationship like with the Arc System Works team, and what has it been like seeing the studio explore a Japanese art-and-culture-informed take on some of these classic comic characters?

HM: Others have said it better, but I’ll repeat here: working with ArcSys and PlayStation has been a dream. From inception, the goal was to reinstate Marvel as a pillar of the fighting game community, and to do it with a unique, anime-inspired art-style and some of the best tag-team fighting mechanics out there. From the get-go, we collectively started pushing the envelope in terms of design to bring out that unmistakable ArcSys identity. I particularly love how Iron Man looks in the game - super unique but instantly recognizable. We’re incredibly proud of Marvel Tōkon and I think players are in for a real treat when it comes out next year.

Marvel’s Deadpool VR

Deadpool VR provides a chance to bring a largely comedic character into the VR gaming space. Given that Deadpool is traditionally irreverent, mature in tone (or immature, depending on perspective) and fourth-wall-breaking, how did Marvel Games approach approvals for jokes and visuals in that game?

HM: It speaks yet again to our yearning for authenticity. We were culturally aligned with the teams at Twisted Pixel Games and Oculus Studios from the get-go and all agreed that we simply wouldn’t make the game if we weren’t going to all-gas-no-brakes deliver on Deadpool, which encompassed everything from the frenetic gameplay to the comedic, mature, fourth wall-breaking tone. Filtering the "Merc with a Mouth" was never an option, as it would betray what makes the character unique. Then there’s the added benefit of working in VR: the humor and gags hit harder when it’s literally in your face. The result is a game that’s unhinged, slightly manic, and, most importantly, fun.

Marvel Cosmic Invasion

Marvel Cosmic Invasion focuses on bringing the Marvel characters into a decidedly old-school retro aesthetic. Why was that setting attractive? Were there older Marvel video games that helped inform the desire to make that project happen?

HM: We all grew up with these games, so it was a no-brainer! My own first-ever Marvel game was X-Men: Children of the Atom, followed by Punisher and X-Men Arcade, and I didn’t even grow up in the United States. The rest of our team has similar memories and origin stories, whether at the arcade or at home. What we now call retro games were pretty current in their time and carried the torch for Marvel where comics didn’t always permeate. Add to that the amazing opportunity to work with Dotemu and Tribute to help make Marvel Cosmic Invasion  after all the hours poured into TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge, and it was truly yet another “this has to happen” moment. 

Marvel’s Wolverine

Given the breadth of announced projects on the way for Marvel Games in the coming months and years, can you share anything about the philosophy guiding Marvel Games in the interactive games space? What factors help to inform whether you want to move forward on a project?

HM: We’ve spent upwards of a decade building the Marvel Games portfolio, and it’s been fun watching the tapestry unfold game-by-game and to see players' reactions. There’s been a tremendous level of thought that went into the games we decided to pursue. We've almost instinctively operated from this place of “no regrets,” meaning if we projected ourselves 20 years into the future and looked back, we don’t ever want to say “we should’ve made that game” or “why did we not push harder to make this happen?”

There’s a great sense of responsibility at play here: Marvel is an almost 90-year-old creative brand, yet it’s as fresh as ever because during all that time, each new generation grew up with Marvel, ultimately became creators and left their mark, and then passed the torch to the next generation. We happen to be here now, carrying this torch, and we feel we have a debt of gratitude to deliver for the players and future creators, whose first encounter with Marvel might well be one of our games.

We also actively seek collaborators that want to take on the same mantle. As is usually the case, once we complete a project together, they, too, become “Marvel.” Marvel’s Wolverine with our dear friends at Insomniac Games is perhaps the epitome of this philosophy. We have been working together for more than a decade and developed such a shorthand across multiple Marvel’s Spider-Man games that when the time finally came to bring Logan back in spectacular and visceral fashion, it was obvious to everyone on our team that Insomniac was the perfect choice. It was our shared culture and values that brought us together, and we’re so proud to continue collaborating for many years to come.

The digital version of Game Informer magazine Issue 373, featuring Dragon Quest VII Reimagined on the cover, is now live! Subscribers can read the full issue right here, with print issues arriving in mailboxes starting in December. If you subscribe to Game Informer before November 25, you'll receive this latest issue highlighting Dragon Quest VII Reimagined across 12 pages in our cover story. And, because this is somehow the first-ever time a Dragon Quest game has appeared on a Game Informer cover, we have an 8-page deep dive into the history of the Dragon Quest series, as told by the man who created it, Yuji Horii. 

In addition to that historical retrospective and a 12-page Dragon Quest Reimagined cover story, which features my thoughts after playing the game for two hours alongside words from the game's various development leads, this issue is jam-packed with excellent features. Senior Associate Editor Marcus Stewart spoke with Edmund McMillan, the creator of The Binding of Isaac, about his new game, Mewgenics. Freelancer Luis Joshua Gutierrez plugged a hole in Game Informer coverage with an awesome look at the culture surrounding the mega-phenomenon that is Five Nights at Freddy's. The entire GI crew banded together to create a round-up of the best co-op games to play during the holidays! 

Speaking of holidays, Editor-in-Chief Matt Miller scoured storefronts to bring you 10 pages of great gifts for the gamers in your life. Elsewhere in this exciting issue, we have a look at the history of games that Game Informer has awarded the prestigious 10/10 review score (because this issue features a review for a game we gave a 10!), the top five dragon quests, a look at Riot's upcoming League of Legends card game, Riftbound, a look back at 2025 aka The Year of the Ninja, and even a post-launch Ghost of Yōtei interview with Sucker Punch Prodcutions. 

In case you haven't seen it yet, here's another look at the beautiful and vibrant Dragon Quest VII Reimagined cover, which features Prince Keifer, Hero, and Maribel avoiding the gaze of a stone golem in the game's unique visual style, which is based on real-life dolls Square Enix created: 

And it wouldn't be a Game Informer issue without the usual previews, which includes Marvel's Wolverine, Saros, Chronoscript: The Endless End, Skate Story, Halo: Campaign Evolved, and more, and reviews, where you can read our thoughts on Absolum, Ninja Gaiden 4, Hades II, The Outer Worlds 2, Battlefield 6, and so much more! We're really proud of this issue, and we hope you'll see why as you pore through its pages. 

By subscribing to Game Informer, you'll receive 10 issues a year in both physical and digital editions. We also offer a digital-only subscription for a reduced price. 

Read the digital issue

A 10/10 score is an honor we at Game Informer don’t bestow often, but it’s a big deal when we do. It involves careful consideration and conversation with the other editors, ensuring that it’s not a number we hand out lightly. Across our outlet’s entire history, only a few dozen games have been awarded the score, and they’re included in this easily accessible list.

However, there are also some fun “almost” 10s throughout Game Informer’s history. By scouring through the magazine archive, we uncovered a handful of instances where 10s were sort of handed out that make for interesting edge cases.

 The Games That Almost Got 10s

The Games That Almost Got 10s

The most common instances of “almost” 10s were in Game Informer’s early days. For the first nine years of the magazine’s lifespan, each game had three reviewers whose scores would be averaged into one "bottom line," which is generally recognized as Game Informer’s final score. Even then, individual reviews were broken down into numbered scores across five categories (Concept, Graphics, Sound, Playability, and Entertainment), so it was extremely difficult for any game to get a 10. It would need to get perfect (or near-perfect) scores across the board from three separate writers. This, as far as we can tell, never happened.

However, there are instances where one of the three writers scored the game a 10. In issue 3, editor Marianne Morgan gave 10s to Lemmings (SNES) and Shatterhand (NES). In issue 6, Ed Martinez awarded a 10 to Out of this World (SNES). Finally, in issue 40, Paul Anderson gave Super Mario 64 a 10. If they had been the sole reviewers, like most outlets have now, these games would all have 10s, but the other editors’ scores ultimately pulled the average down. The only one of these games close to a 10 was Super Mario 64, which scored a 9.75.

Another edge case comes in issue 43 from October 1996, in a now-retired Classic GI segment on “The Mascot Wars,” chronicling the rivalry between Mario, Sonic, and the then-new Crash Bandicoot. In it, the writer quickly scores the mainline entries of each mascot’s games and gives Super Mario Bros., a game that predates Game Informer by several years, a retroactive 10. It’s far from an official score, however – not only does the game not go through the traditional, rigorous review process, but the list also includes scores inconsistent with the outlet’s published scores. Super Mario 64, for example, is incorrectly given a 9.5.

GI Classic struck again in October of 2000. In issue 90, they revisited Super Mario World, which launched just a few months before the first issue of Game Informer, and gave it a 10. This instance is more formal than before, part of a monthly section fully dedicated to retro reviews, but it’s still abnormal. It was only one opinion, it lacks a byline, and is generally formatted differently than a standard review. 

If we want to reserve the “first” title for a game to receive a 10 upon release, that honor goes to Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2, which we reviewed in the very next issue, 91. It happens to coincide with an overhaul of Game Informer’s design and structure, with a new logo and a new review process. Each game now receives a primary review and a “second opinion,” which is also scored, but only gets a paragraph or so of text. Category scores are also no more, replaced with short blurbs breaking down the writer's thoughts on the subject. There were far fewer barriers to score a 10/10 now, and the staff wasted no time doling one out.

There is also one instance of a game receiving a score higher than a 10… though it was an April Fool’s joke. In issue 84, a made-up game called Virtua Laundromat 3: Rinse Cycle for the “Mega Dreamblast” (a parody version of the Sega Dreamcast) scored a 10+. Published in April 2000, this was just seven months before the actual first 10/10 score.

For all 32 of our 10/10 scores, along with the issue each was published in, you can check out the list below. To see them in their original print layouts, you can access most of them* in the Game Informer magazine archive by making a free account and clicking right here.

*(Note: Our free magazine archive includes issue 368 and earlier. To read newer issues, including Astro Bot and Hades II, you can subscribe to Game Informer here.)

 Every Official Game Informer 10

Every Official Game Informer 10, In Chronological Order

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To read these reviews in their original print format, you can make a free account and browse the Game Informer archive right here. To read issues published since our relaunch, you can subscribe here.

I reached 30 hours in Ghost of Yōtei last night. Since picking it back up again after a quick review departure to cover Little Nightmares III for Game Informer, I have been devouring Sucker Punch Productions’ spiritual follow-up to 2020’s Ghost of Tsushima. I spend each work day excited to reach the night because it’s then that I can jump back into this 17th-century recreation of Ezo, known as Hokkaido. The more I play, though, the more I wonder if Sucker Punch thinks I’m stupid.

Ghost of Yōtei isn’t an easy game; it’s also not a hard game. It is a safe, comfortable, and satisfactory sequel. Its story has largely fallen flat for me, and though I recognize I’m probably only halfway through, I can’t help but feel like this is another Sony Revenge Story. And I’m half expecting Atsu’s quest for vengeance to feature a twist that intends to make me feel bad for controlling Atsu on said quest – like 2020’s The Last of Us Part II, is Ghost of Yōtei going to try to teach me that revenge is unfulfilling? I hope not. But aside from my general uninterest in the story so far, I’m enjoying a lot of what Ghost of Yōtei does. It continues the lineage of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild that Sucker Punch experimented with in Ghost of Tsushima, improving on it significantly, making exploration in Ezo fun and exciting.

 

Its combat is vastly improved over its predecessor, and I think this is the biggest upgrade for the sequel. I even enjoy a lot of the characters I’m meeting in various Sensei, Bounty, and Tales side quests, certainly more than those I meet along the golden path. The more I play, though, the more I’m recognizing a pattern in how Ghost of Yōtei doles out information.

Ghost of Yōtei refuses to let me think, to wonder, for myself.

It features a spyglass, usable by tapping up on the d-pad, and it’s best used for getting a clearer look at something in the distance. In a very Zelda fashion, you can create a waypoint that the game’s wind navigation system will guide you toward. I like that it doesn’t follow in the steps of Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed series, which coincidentally dived into feudal Japan (finally) the very same year Ghost of Yōtei launched, rejecting the go-to mechanic of allowing me to mark every target my glass hovers over. But admittedly, because it doesn’t feature a mechanic like that, I rarely use it, unless the game tells me to.

When it tells me to, like during a Sensei side quest last night with Master Enomoto in the Teshio Ridge region, I’m instructed to locate Kitsune hideouts and other enemy-related objectives. Except, instead of allowing me to discover them myself, reinforcing how this spyglass should be used, the game blurs the corners, brightening them with a white light, to say, “Don’t worry about actually putting thought into this, what you’re looking for is right over here.” Realizing how this spyglass mechanic actually works sent my mind racing through a lot of what Ghost of Yōtei has been doing, signaling to me, the player, that I must be stupid.

Throughout Atsu’s questing in Teshio Ridge, you encounter Kitsune hideouts and other structures designed to be “puzzles.” I put puzzles in quotations because they hardly require any use of your brain to solve. There’s a cipher to use, yielding the impression I’ll need to use it more handily, but every puzzle I’ve encountered where the cipher reminder pops up requires either rotating some fox statues, placing fox statues on pedestals, or lighting fires under fox statues. You can use the cipher if you really want to feel smart while playing, but I've never felt the need to.

Last night, there were two fox statues – one on the left facing right, and one on the right facing left. Beside those permanent fox statues were two pedestals, each with a wooden fox statue on it. But oh my, the left pedestal has a fox facing left, and the right pedestal has a right-facing one. The goal here was to open a door – whatever should I do to get this door open? The solution is swapping pedestals by picking each one up with R2 and then placing it with R2. This requires zero effort on my end, and it actually annoyed me that I even had to do it to begin with. If you’re going to include puzzles, at least create ones that push me to think, even just a little.

In other instances, I’m presented with three fox statues I can light a fire underneath, but only one needs fire. If you light an incorrect one, it will explode, lighting Atsu on fire. “Which one should you light to prevent being lit on fire, Atsu?” the game wants me to ponder. Literally right behind these flammable fox statues is a fourth one atop a rock – it matches one of the three flammable statues before me and represents the solution. Again, not much thought required here – I just needed to look three feet beyond the three statues before me.

Elsewhere, two fox statues are rotated facing the correct direction, but the third needs to be rotated into place in order to advance. My cipher theoretically tells me which direction this fox statue should be facing based on the matching symbol beneath it…but the statue can only face four directions, and I save myself the trouble by rotating it until it locks into place. Sure, I’m “gaming” the system here and choosing to use little brainpower to solve this “puzzle,” but it sure would be nice if Sucker Punch had designed this exercise to require some critical thinking.

I catch myself saying the same for every fox statue puzzle I encounter; for every time I have to find something with the spyglass, only for the game to do all the work for me; for every time the game teases I’ll have to find a way to unlock Master Enomoto’s special Kusarigama only for it to, moments later, display a prompt to press Triangle while using my own Kusarigama to grab it; for every time I have to unlock a puzzle box by moving random pieces of wood on the box until it opens; for every time I have to investigate a scene, which just means walking around until the R2/Examine prompt appears.

Maybe this is an insecurity of mine coming out, but I don’t think that’s it. These moments I’ve described above are just a handful of the ways Sucker Punch very deliberately and directly holds my hand, signposting the way forward, as if the game has already decided I’m too stupid to possibly ever figure out any of this myself.

I’m not stupid, Sucker Punch, but Ghost of Yōtei has me wondering if you think I am. 

For more about the game, read Game Informer's Ghost of Yōtei review, and then check out this spoilery post-launch Ghost of Yōtei interview with Sucker Punch Productions. 

Earlier this year, I called ARC Raiders “the most promising extraction shooter I’ve played,” and after spending many hours with the final release, it seems to have lived up to my expectations. While I’m not ready to share a full review yet, as I still need to sink many more hours into various progression systems and maps, I can confidently say developer Embark Studio’s sophomore release is an impressive foray into the growing subgenre. 

Launch Trailer | ARC Raiders:

 

The Division helped lay the groundwork for extraction shooters in 2016 with its fantastic Dark Zone, a walled-off area of New York City where players fought other competitors and NPCs alike to extract with their hard-earned loot before dying and losing it all. ARC Raiders carries this concept forward, expanding upon it with a robust crafting system, expertly implemented retro-futuristic art direction, and impressive artificial intelligence powering the robot enemies patrolling the game’s vibrant and derelict locations. 

Before loading into their selected map, players equip themselves with various old-world weaponry, like marksman rifles and pistols, alongside a selection of futuristic gadgetry like shields, loadout augments (i.e., expanded backpack space vs. more quick-use slots), ziplines, special grenade types, and a lot more. You can always enter the game world with a free, randomized loadout if you've lost ample gear due to repeated deaths. While the free kit is basic, it’s a viable arsenal for most resource-gathering outings, and my friends and I have wiped unsuspecting enemy raiders with much better loadouts. I love outplaying a better-equipped squad with a thoughtful strategy, like using a Lure Grenade to attract a swarm of enemies to their position, and narrowly escaping via the contested exit with my hard-earned spoils. 

 

I’m looking forward to playing more ARC Raiders over the weekend, so come back early next week to read and watch my full review. However, I can safely recommend the game to competitive multiplayer fans, especially those seeking a fresh (and more challenging) experience. I’ll have to wait to see if ARC Raiders is an easy recommendation for the everyday third-person shooter fan once I’ve put more time into it.

In the meantime, if you’re looking for something to play this weekend, check out Game Informer’s staff recommendations for games to play on Halloween. 

Happy Halloween, everyone! It's the scariest day of the year and, in my opinion, the most entertaining. I love Halloween as a fan of horror, sweets, and costumes, the latter of which offers a fun opportunity to masquerade as my favorite characters. And as a fan of games, dressing up as recognizable faces from the medium is extra special. 

As a kid, Mario was an easy go-to costume (specifically Fire Flower Mario, which was "Best Mario" to me back then). In recent years, I've dressed as Mortal Kombat's Scorpion and Sub-Zero. If you watched the latest episode of our Resident Evil Outbreak Super Replay, I donned an extremely convincing Alyssa Ashcroft costume. As you can see, we're pretty much the same person.  

Are you representing your favorite video game this Halloween? Share your costumes in the comments!

Happy Halloween Game Informer audience! 

Even though it's the spookiest day of the year and we're busy petting black cats, carving pumpkins, eating all the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups out of candy variety bags before handing them out to children this evening, and walking under ladders, it's still Friday. That means we editors here at Game Informer have gathered up some editorial entries to share some games you should play this weekend. Considering it's Halloween, this week's round-up is a bunch of our favorite horror games and why you should consider checking them out for the holiday weekend! 

But before that, let's take a quick detour into all the fantastic stories we published this week. Brian Shea published his review of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection and his review of Pokémon Legends: Z-A. Freelancer Nadia Oxford published her first byline at Game Informer with a review of Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake. Looking outside of reviews, I posted an interview with Adriyan Rae, the actress behind Hazel in South of Midnight, and Brian dove deep into NBA Street successor NBA The Run. On the news side of things, it was a jam-packed week between sci-fi horror game Routine finally getting a release date, mass layoffs at Amazon, the first-ever Breath of the Wild vinyl release, a free Vampire Survivors x Balatro collaboration, and a team-up between Netflix and Life Is Strange developer Don't Nod, amongst plenty more. 

And, as every Game Informer reader knows, that's just a lil dash of everything we published this week. Within our various other website sections, like video and features, there's plenty more to see and read, and we hope you do. As always, thank you for being a subscriber if you are one, and if you aren't, head here to join the growing ranks of the smartest and coolest and most fun audience in the world. Alrighty, roll the tape (or text or whatever): 

Horror Games To Check Out This Weekend