Try to count them: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II, Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate Definitive Edition, KLONOA Phantasy Reverie Series, Spidersaurs, Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium, River City Saga: Three Kingdoms, and a ton of Arcade-ports for PlayStation 4 by City Connection as well as the usual steady stream released by Hamster Corp. It's safe to say that July was quite a month for gamers who have already been around the block for a decade or two. Even without a thick pair of nostalgia-glasses, it's always nice to see beloved franchises and genres make grand returns on modern platforms in some form or another. These returns are good not just for us to enjoy them again, but also to enable a whole new generation to fall in love with them.

While competitive eSports gamers rely on pro-style controllers, the nicer hardware can benefit co-op and solo players too. HexGaming is one of the leading providers of custom controllers for today's console. Today, the company launched the Rival Pro Controller for PlayStation 5, an elite controller that offers remappable buttons, interchangeable thumbsticks, and more.

Last summer, WayForward and Arc System Works announced their collaboration on an upcoming game, RWBY: Arrowfell. The newest game based on Rooster Teeth's CG-animated series will add to the plot of the show's seventh volume, complete with series-accurate voice actors and cinematics. RWBY: Arrowfell was first announced as featuring local and online co-op. A year later, we have a new trailer and gameplay details, plus a bit of bad news. Arrowfell will now be a single-player game when it arrives in the fall.

Oh boy, what a month. Geoff Keighley may have tried to dampen our expectation in terms of new announcements before the start of Summer Game Fest 2022. But there were still several hundred games shown during the various showcases. Thanks to Steam Next Fest, those games available to test out during June. As opposed to last year, however, the co-op output was a bit lacking overall. Of course, there were still a few games announcements featuring co-operative options like Minecraft Legends or Goat Simulator 3, but we can't hide the fact that we were a bit disappointed. 

Almost exactly a year ago, we wrote about an in-development game called DeathRun TV from Laser Dog and Merge Games. DeathRun is a twin-stick shooter/Roguelike that takes obvious inspiration from The Running Man and, just maybe, Smash TV. Fast-forwarding to now, DeathRun TV has finally launched on Steam and Switch, but there's a catch: the co-op mode that was initially announced is nowhere to be found. Still, even as a single-player-only game, DeathRun TV is pretty solid and compelling.

While Geoff Keighley is already reving up the engines hard for Summer Game Fest 2022, no doubt showering us in a ton of new announcements starting on June 9th, let's quickly take a look back at the co-op offerings of May before everyone forgets about them.

Two years ago I reviewed the ROCCAT Burst Pro and it moved into my daily use mouse, only to be replaced ROCCAT Kone XP a few months back. But the Burst Pro is back, this time in a wireless form factor and a new lighter design. So how does the ROCCAT Burst Pro Air stack up? 

Last year I reviewed the Turtle Beach Stealth 700 Gen 2 and called it "quality comfort." In fact I've reviewed a handful of other headsets since then and still go back to the Stealth 700s as my favorites. Turtle Beach is back with a minor update this year that includes several claimed improvements with battery life leading the charge. This is also the first fully cross gen version of this headset that covers just about any platform out there - which is an improvement all to itself.

It's finally time to unpack that boomstick and oil up the chainsaw again! On May 13th, the aptly named Evil Dead: The Game will finally hit store shelves. The first new Evil Dead release since 2005s Evil Dead: Regeneration (we don't count those lackluster mobile titles in between). We really can't wait to take on the Kandarian Demon with our friends. We may even stop playing Elden Ring for it.

Let's face it: All the majority of the Co-Optimus-Crew wanted to do in March was play Elden Ring. They didn't care for the Next-Gen-Version of GTA V and the release of Young Souls was all but a foot-note during their quest to become the Elden Lord. The craziness of titles like Strange of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin and Tiny Tina's Wonderland also didn't manage to keep them away from Hidetaka Miyazaki's Masterpiece. They even ignored Carby! Carby from Kirby and the Forgotten Land! Can you believe that?!

Welcome back to Beyond Co-Op Reviews, our critical look at games that don't feature co-op modes....

I've been fortunate enough to have a steady stream of PC gaming mice to check out, the last ones have been from ROCCAT. The Kone Pro and Burst Pro have been my daily mice for the last few months and I've been pretty satisfied with the quality and brand overall. The latest entry in ROCCAT's lineup is a return to the mouse that started it all - the ROCCAT Kone XP, a take on the Kone shape which is a derivative of the Intellimouse Explorer design.