Curse of the Dead Gods is fantastic. The gameplay, while incredibly challenging, is still fun and immensely rewarding. It's so satisfying to finally complete a dungeon after spending hours grinding there. It's a roguelite in nearly the best sense of the word, with the only downside being that there's no established story; no tangible endgame.
Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption is fantastic. It's a highly immersive experience with great writing that will have you fall in love with some characters and hate others, while also giving you the opportunity to live out your rogue fantasies. Every minute is a genuinely fun DnD-esque experience, even when having to study for a test or have the protagonist complete tasks like learning how to lockpick or fight. A definite must-have for any isometric RPG fans.
Call of the Sea might be short, but it's a highly rewarding puzzle game with a fascinating narrative that keeps getting better and better as the game slowly reveals the truth to you. It's a fully engrossing experience that showcases the best parts of the Lovecraftian genre, but makes it fully accessible to players who want to experience the mystery but none of the horror.
Spirit of the North may look beautiful, sound beautiful, but is a confusing and boring mess. It tries too hard to be artsy while disregarding the importance of fun gameplay and an interesting story. During their short playtime, players are required to interpret the weak narrative and their overall purpose in the game. The only replayability comes from completing the collect-a-thon. However, that provides zero satisfaction to the player and has a hard time trying to stay relevant to the gameplay and story at large.
Thief Simulator VR is just Thief Simulator as a VR port. There have been no improvements made over the original PC version to justify getting it in VR. Even if the gameplay is fun, and the sense of realism has been carried over from the PC game, there are numerous VR-specific problems that will quickly break the immersion. It's a largely uncomfortable experience that has a lot of technical issues.
Cloudpunk started off unique and interesting; you're new to its world and are exploring it alongside the main character, Rania. Eventually, you'll realize it's only a cyberpunk delivery simulator with cringey voice acting and an even worse script. By that point, the game loses any redeemable qualities and becomes a burden to play. Just like the main character, and the mechanics, the game has little to no substance to offer.
Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate is the definitive edition to own if you don't already own the game and post-launch content. However, running off a PS5, the improved load times and graphical enhancements are amazing and necessary. It's a highly optimized game that feels like it was made for the new generation of consoles. The ability to launch within seconds from the main menu into a match is a technical marvel of itself. It's definitely the Mortal Kombat 11 version to purchase if you want to own all the post-launch content from the get-go.
Sackboy is the perfect launch title to initiate young children into the next generation of games, as well as provide a rewarding and enjoyable experience for everyone else. Even though it launches with a hefty price tag, the amount of content this game has to offer more than covers its cost. Plus, you can either play this one with or without friends, and it will undoubtedly entertain all for hours. The mixture of fantastic level design, coupled with a great soundtrack, will reignite that lost feeling of childhood happiness.
PositronX starts off as an amazing FPS game that's marketed as a rogue-lite, but players will quickly realize that it's more attuned to being a roguelike. Progressing through the four levels and it's quickly evident that a high level of artificial difficulty is added, with enemies getting more health and damage, while you're stuck with abilities and bonuses that don't scale accurately against the rest of the gameplay. The game ends up becoming a grindy mess with its only salvation being the music design and the occasional new weapon or ability for the player to experience.
Population: One is a fantastic and rewarding experience. Dropping into the map and taking on your opponents feels amazing, and it all comes down to your own skill. There are a few things holding this game back from being a fully immersive VR experience, but for what it has accomplished, it's done it amazingly. Big Box VR has set the bar high for the VR battle royale market.
Ghostrunner is a breath of fresh air. It takes the best parts of Hotline Miami and Mirror's Edge, sprinkles in its own style, and hands players a unique experience. Every single minute is a thrill ride that keeps the player packed full of adrenaline, and it doesn't stop until the end of each level. It's an immensely enjoyable and satisfying experience that will have you on the edge of your seat trying to master each segment. However, as the price point currently stands you're getting about 5 hours of content for $30, with the only replayability coming from leaderboard rankings.
Microsoft has finally brought Age of Empires 3 out of the dark ages and fans are able to return to the game that they know and love. There's a lot of quality of life changes to be found with the Definitive Edition, but at the same time there's essentially the same amount of content to be experienced. Returning players may find that they're effectively paying for a 15 year old game, but are now able to view it in 4K.
Spellbreak could be a huge hit if it was capable of drawing in the numbers, but a poor marketing campaign established otherwise. Even still, Proletariat's fantastic sound design, music, gameplay mechanics, and art style creates a hugely immersive experience for the player; comfortably satisfying a player's desire to experience games shaped around elemental magic. It's a shame that such an incredibly rewarding experience is marred by bot-heavy games.
Relicta is a puzzle game that tries to be like The Talos Principle and Portal, but falls flat. The gameplay mechanics, as well as the physics, are a solid and fun experience. However, it falls short due to a weak story, terribly written dialogue, repetitive puzzle design, and various technical issues. If you're looking for a puzzler that you can easily find exploits in for a speedrun, check this out. But, if you're looking for a puzzler with replayability, where you have to utilize creative thinking, and the puzzles are all uniquely designed, then look far, far elsewhere.
Bossa Studios took the mayhem of the first game and enhanced it ten-fold. Surgeon Simulator 2 is a blast to play, and even better enjoyed with friends. The unique gameplay, combined with unforgettable co-op experiences and a wholly polished title, makes this game a worthwhile purchase.
Skully is a simple platformer that boasts fun characters, a great soundtrack, and creative gameplay; all of which provide a rewarding experience by the end of it. However, good things only last for a while, since the quality of the story drops off significantly by the end, and the poor music looping quickly becomes boring. And yet, it's an underrated gem that you'll likely want to platinum as soon as it's done.
Hellbound is a fun shooter that's got all the hallmarks of what made the 90s FPS genre so great. Unfortunately, just like the 90s games before it, it's pretty dated in both optimization and graphics. There's a large number of bugs and game-breaking glitches to be experienced, all of which tarnish what is otherwise an incredible experience.
Although Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time has the occasional frame rate drop, and it doesn't pose that high a challenge, Soleil's game direction has proved worthwhile. Having all the tools to shape your experience provides a thoroughly enjoyable experience for the player, and it'll keep long-time fans of the series happy seeing Jack's old allies in action once more. However, with such a short time-to-complete and weak story, it will have you yearn for more.
Into The Radius is a great VR survival game with an amazing atmosphere, rewarding experience, and a very interesting set of enemies. It's especially suited to VR veterans, who may think they've experienced all that's to see and do with the platform. Do beware however, as this game has recently come out of Early Access and has some hallmarks of it.
I expected ELEA: Paradigm Shift to at least be an interesting and artistic game for the Nintendo Switch. As it turns out, it's no way near that level. Not only that, but it's plagued with problems in its controls, its visuals, and its gameplay. Though the beginning of the game showed promise, I was left with a resounding feeling of disappointment.