Overall, however, I like Deep Sky Derelicts. It's literally the embodiment of "easy to pick up, difficult to master" and it will provide fans of Darkest Dungeon with another terrifying journey into the unknown that will require nuanced and strategic gameplay in order to be successful.
The more you practice The Golf Club 2019, the better you'll get. Not only will you feel better once you hit the links, but you might also find yourself competent and skilled enough to actually finish (and hopefully win!) an entire round! From there, the rest is history. The Golf Club 2019 is a winner in my book and certainly a game that fans of golf sims and realistic sports games will treasure for years to come.
If you’re looking for the next, and perhaps greatest, grand cRPG; if you’re aching for an epic single player adventure; if you’re seeking a setting outside the norm; if you’re hoping for a story that takes you in and hangs on, Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire fills the bill. It is something special, something you’ll want to play again and again and is a game that will undoubtedly be remembered as one of the genre’s best.
The game is clunky and frustrating. It provides some fun in estimating firing ranges for your tanks, but it makes that fun really hard to get to and loads it with the burdens of no tutorial, subpar UI, and frustrating movement mechanics. Whatever you'd come to this game looking for, it's probably done better somewhere else.
All in all, the duo multiplayer experience of Far Cry 5 is fantastic. The aesthetics alone manage to overshadow the frustrating mechanics that the game brings to bear and keep us wanting to play. If you’re looking for a fun, engaging, exciting game to play with a partner, this is definitely one to try out. Let’s hope that the games industry creates more partner play experiences for those who love to game together, but not necessarily in huge piles.
All in all, if you’re a fan of open world exploration and complex combat, ELEX may be the game for you, though I would add the caveat that you may want to see how things improve over the coming months. There’s already a plan for a Day 1 patch that may take care of some of the game’s most glaring issues.
From the astonishing amount of replayability it provides to the gorgeously detailed world you and your party will inhabit to the awesome and thought-provoking combat and so so much more, DOS2 is a game that you do not want to miss.
That said, however, Another Lost Phone: Laura’s Story is an interesting, topical game that touches on some important issues with regard to our connected world and the impact it can have on young people. If you go into it knowing that you need to really be on top of the UI thing, you’ll find a good story that you’ll find yourself pondering over long after the game is finished.
As I played through the game, I found myself profoundly moved by Chloe, by Rachel, by loss and pain and the wondrous beauty of a newfound love. Excellence in writing evokes emotion and memory. Awake has it in spades. Deck Nine has done what most didn’t think they could: It took a beloved series by another developer (DontNod Entertainment) and made it even better. There simply isn’t a better way to honor another game than that.
I actually volunteered to play Syberia 3 after watching the trailers. I even went so far as to play for a few hours on PlayStation 4 to see if the experience would be different. Sadly, it was not. It seemed like a game with such promise and that it would somehow be something more than what it ultimately became. To say that I am disappointed is to understate things greatly. Let’s hope that Microids lets the Syberia IP go, or at least wait a good long while before making another one that is worthy of the first two games because Syberia 3 isn’t it.
In the end, Prey is a really, really good game. I’d even venture that it’s borderline great. While I can and will ding it a bit for the annoyance of repetitive returns to previous locations and for the overly annoying mimics (particularly from an aural standpoint), there is so much to like, so much to discover, so much to learn that I would put Prey up there as one of the best games of the year so far and that’s some pretty impressive company.
Ultimately, if you are a console player, Blackwood Crossing is a nice little game with a decent set of controls. For PC players, while I dearly love the game (and I DO), I would recommend waiting for a patch that will hopefully address some of the woefully bad controls. Once that’s done, it’s a game you won’t want to miss.
Vikings is an OK game but it’s nothing special given its potential based on setting. For a certain type of combo action fighting with arcade-style speed type of person, it may be perfectly fine. For an ARPG fan who was looking for the next great game, it’s just not there yet.
Whether it’s the combat system that is both new and familiar or multiplayer with its improvements or the interesting variety of quests or the epic score that screams Mass Effect, it all gels together into a whole. Ryder’s galaxy is as well-suited to her as the Milky Way was for Shepard. If we’re lucky, there are a lot more adventures in store for Ryder and her crew. To take a phrase from the original trilogy’s Anderson, “You did good, BioWare. You did good and I’m proud of you.”
While appealing to players of the first game or longtime fans of the genre as a whole, new players will also find much to like about Torment, most notably the experience of playing a game that isn't funneled down a pre-determined avenue of "discovery", but one that rewards exploration, time and diligence to NPCs and locations and much more.
When all is said and done, Brut@l is a decent hack’n’slash game with better-than-average combat and a totally wicked graphic style. While not on par with classic ARPGs like Diablo II or Titan Quest, it’s still a lot of fun and worth the $14.99 (11.99 through the 16th) price tag.
Legion shows that Blizzard is working to improve delivery and systems to provide players with an expansion that will keep them engaged in the World of Warcraft story throughout. Hopefully, they will do just that over time.
There is no question that Grim Dawn moves along familiar lines: Base classes, a tragic world inhabited by monsters in a wide variety of flavors, nearly constant loot drops, action-oriented combat, somewhat "lite" yet interesting story, etc. Somehow, though, Grim Dawn just does it better than any other ARPG in recent memory.
As much as I wanted to love Bombshell, and in some ways do despite its flaws, I cannot recommend the game in its current state.
All in all, FIVE: Guardians of David is a very solid, well-priced ($24.99 on Steam) ARPG that will give players a lot of satisfaction and many hours of enjoyment. Fans of ARPGs will find a lot to like here as there is no question that it stands alongside the likes of Diablo, Torchlight and Titan Quest in a very favorable way.